Puss, Puss
by Black Gargie
Summary: AU fic. Tasuki came across a very special breed of cat and as he bought that cat and brought it home, hilarious things happen. M on later chappies.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I'm a 100% fan when it comes to my darling little seishi Chichiri! ^_^ He is just simply irresistable! To to top it all up, I think he'd be a great sweetheart for Tasuki! Anywho, I just went to a manga shop today and have been reading a little bit of FY just for the memories and I suddenly came up with this marvellous, kawaii idea.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri~! ;P

                                                                                    PUSS, PUSS

            Tasuki was walking down the road after a really long day of working in the construction site. He let out a loud yawn, earning passers-by's annoyed or surprised look. Tasuki couldn't care less. The only thing he wanted to do right now was to go back home, get himself off this ridiculous work clothes and jump onto bed and take a nice long nap.

            As he continued walking, something from one of the display section of a shop caught his attention. It was a tiny little midget with blue hair and fair skin. He had long bangs dangling down his forehead and a small ponytail. His eyes were almost into slits, forming a smiley kind of face. He didn't have ears like a human does, but a pair of cat-like ears sticking out of his head and a relatively long tail sticking out of his butt the colour of blonde fur. Yet he was as naked as a baby and had no fur on the rest of his body. He had his hands placed onto the display window and was looking at Tasuki in earnest. The ironic thing was that this little midget was actually surrounded by cats and kittens far smaller than he was. Tasuki looked up at the sign of the shop and noticed it bore the words in bold: **MITSUKAKE'S LIL' PETSHOP**.

            Tasuki was curious. He went in and was greeted by the shopkeeper whom he assumed to be Mitsukake. He pointed his thumb at the display section and asked, "What is that little midget at your display window among all those felines?"

            Mitsukake craned his neck to see what he was pointing and said, "Oh, him. That's one of our prized pets—a man-cat."

            "Man-cat?" Tasuki wrinkled his nose in surprise.

            "Yup. It's a very trendy new breed of pet nowadays. Scientists have combined the DNA of humans with cats to create this hybrid. Just out in the market last month. Very popular and very pricey, I have to say. Most of my customers who buy man-cats like these are usually from wealthy families."

            "Well, that rules me out," Tasuki huffed. "I can't even afford to buy cat food, let alone buy a cat."

            "Would you like to take a look first?" Mitsukake offered. "Maybe he might interest you a little."

            Tasuki contemplated for a minute before saying, "Well, I guess taking a look at it wouldn't hurt."

            Mitsukake excused himself and walked over to the display section. Seconds later, he came back with the little man-cat in his hands. He sat the man-cat onto the counter and continued, "This is a man-kitten, sir. He's still relatively young. He has a little flaw though. His left eye was injured when he was born, thanks to some inexperienced vet, so he's pretty much blind with only one eye. I could give you a discount on this one."

            "Annou, I've already said I don't want..."

            Before Tasuki could finish his words, the man-kitten leapt onto Tasuki and purred. He nuzzled at Tasuki's chest affectionately and even attempted to lick Tasuki's nose. Tasuki grumbled and pulled at the man-kitten's scruff but he whined, refusing to let go.

            "I think he likes you, sir." Mitsukake grinned with interest. "Do you want to reconsider?"

            "I told you, I don't want it. I can't even keep myself full, let alone feed him."

            "The discount offer is still available."

            "Sunimase, not interested."

            Mitsukake shrugged in defeat and walked over to the end of the shop to tend to the other animals.Tasuki stared at the man-kitten who was still hanging onto his work clothes. The man-kitten smiled and purred like all cats do when they want to persuade someone to meet their needs. Tasuki's heart warmed up a little to see that this little hybrid that he had only met for the first time would show much trust and liking towards him. Even the girls he tried to tackle didn't show as much affection as this. Maybe he could just buy lesser this month...

            He was struck back to his senses when he realized his hand was in his pocket trying to fish out his wallet. What was he thinking? He was going to spend almost his month's salary for a pet he barely even needed. Hastily, he pried the man-kitten off him and placed him on the counter before he made a dash out of the shop. He ran and ran until he couldn't run anymore. He heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that he was far from the pet shop.

            Just when he thought his troubles were all over, he was shocked to find out that the man-kitten had sneaked out of the shop to follow him. Didn't Mitsukake the shopkeeper even notice that his prized pet was missing? Tasuki had the right mind to take the man-kitten back to the shop and demand Mitsukake to keep an eye on his own products, but he decided against it. He was afraid that Mitsukake would go striking him another bargain and persuading him to waste his money on this pest.

            Finally, he had an idea. He let the man-kitten follow him for a while until he reached a junction. Then, as quickly as he could, he slipped into one of the secluded areas of the junction and hid out of sight, hoping that the man-kitten would give up following him and go back to the shop where he belonged. He waited for a minute or two before taking a peek to see if the man-kitten was gone. He saw the man-kitten, naked as he was, remained standing a few feet from the junction, looking left and right for the red-haired feisty man he came to be fond of. He had a worried look on his face and seemed quizzical about Tasuki's whereabouts. Tasuki grinned silently.

            'Yes, you little pest. I'm not here. Just go home, pussy, just...'

            His thoughts stopped short when he saw the man-kitten fall onto his knees looking sad and disappointed. His shoulders quivered and he was looking down at the floor. Before Tasuki knew it, he was crying pools of tears, whining and mewing sadly like a little lost child.

            Tasuki's heart ached...

                                                                                                *

            "Ah, hello again, sir," Mitsukake greeted Tasuki as he saw him coming into his shop again with the man-kitten in his arms. The man-kitten was sleeping peacefully in his embrace, his head laid gently on his shoulder. "And I see you've brought back my little escapee."

            "Do you take monthly installments?"

A/N: Aww~! That is so sweet! Wanna know the rest of the story? If you wanna, tell me that in your reviews and I'll give it to you. See ya! ^_^ 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: What will be the fate of this lil' man-kitten once he's in the hands of Tasuki? Read on to find out, guys! Sorry for the late entry. Got caught up with too much other fanfics. --

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

                                                                         PUSS, PUSS

            After reaching a compromised price with Mitsukake, Tasuki was allowed to take the man-kitten home. On his way home, the man-kitten was so excited he couldn't keep his cool. He kept bouncing here and there, mewing happily and drawing quite a number of unwanted attention. Tasuki kinda got sick of it and knelt down before the man-kitten.

            "Look here, you baka neko!" Tasuki growled. "I've bought you and I'm taking you home. Isn't that what you want? Why can't you just keep still already?!"

            The man-kitten stared at Tasuki for a while, then smiled and jumped onto Tasuki's back wityh a gleeful mew. Tasuki yelped and reached out his hands to the back, trying to grab him.

            "Get off me, you little baka neko! Get the hell off me! Baka neko!"

            No matter how he reached, he couldn't seem to get to the man-kitten. When he tried to reach from under, the man-kitten scurried upwards and when he tried to reach from the top, he scurried back down. It was as if he was trying to toy with him, refusing to be touched by him. Finally Tasuki got so sick of playing catch with him that he grumbled and straightened himself and said, "Fine! If that's what you want, then so be it! I don't wanna care about you anymore!"

            Whether it was Tasuki's words or because his body was too steep to cling on, the man-kitten slowly inched his way back up to his shoulder, purring and rubbing his cheeks lovingly at Tasuki's. Tasuki sighed and picked him up in his arms, saying, "You just be a good kitty and stay put, OK? We're gonna be home soon."

            The man-kitten purred with his smiley face at him and nuzzled into Tasuki's chest, absorbing whatever smell that, to him, was pleasant. And he was as good as his word—he stayed still in Tasuki's arms throughout the rest of the journey back to Tasuki's humble home. Once they reached there, Tasuki woke him up.

            "Here ya go, neko-chan. Home sweet home."

            The man-kitten looked up and saw himself staring at an apartment, old-looking but still pretty much intact. There was a sign at the entrance bearing the name of the Apartment: Rekka-Shin Apartment. The man-kitten stared at it, slightly interested, his face showing a look that said 'So, this is where I'm gonna live for the rest of my life, huh?' Tasuki noticed and grinned as he ruffled the man-kitten's blue hair.

            "Yup, neko-chan. This is exactly where you'll be living, so don't try and break anything in my home, alright?"

            The man-kitten just mewed with his smiley face at him. Tasuki wasn't even sure whether he understood or not. As he made his way to the lift, he was greeted by a shrill voice at a distance.

            "Konbanwa, Tasu-chan!!!"

            Tasuki sweatdropped. He dreaded hearing that voice and he sure didn't want to ever associate with this person for as long as he lived, but he had no choice—he was his landlord.

            "Konbanwa, Nuriko-san."

            The resident transvestite bounded happily towards Tasuki. Nuriko was the owner of Rekka-Shin Apartment and lived, unfortunately for Tasuki, just a few doors away from his home on the same floor. He was a transvestite and in the middle of undergoing a sex change surgery to make himself a 'real woman'. Nuriko had taken a fancy for Tasuki ever since he came in and rented the apartment. Never a day went by without seeing Nuriko coming to his home bugging the lights out of him. Tasuki always wished that he could just kick him out of his house and slam the door at his face but Nuriko was well-known for being a strong body-builder and quite ruthless when things doesn't go his way, so if he were to offend this guy, either he would end up being thrown out of the window or his rent would suddenly increase to an alarming rate.

            "What do you have here now, Tasu-chan?" Nuriko took a peek at the man-kitten he was holding in his arms. The man-kitten mewed in response and nuzzled his nose at Nuriko's finger in a friendly way. Nuriko grinned and said, "Kawaii-ne! I heard about you. You're the new man-cat breed everyone's been very hot about. What's his name?"

            "I haven't exactly thought about it yet," Tasuki said as he entered the lift. Nuriko entered with him as well.

            "He looks so cute and chibi, just like a little baby," Nuriko commented as he tickled the man-kitten's neck. "He should have a cute name, you know. May I?"

            "Go ahead," Tasuki said, wondering secretly what name this twisted transvestite would give.

            "Well, you're too cute to be called Chibi Tasu—doesn't suite you. My Tasu-chan is far too gallant to be considered kawaii. Let's see, you have got to be called Chibi something...Hmm...Chibi...Chibi...Chiri...Chibi Chiri..." Nuriko considered before a name suddenly clicked in his head, "That's it! Chibi Chiri! Now that's a cute name! We'll call it Chibi Chiri! What do you think, Tasu-chan?"

            "I think it suits him pretty fine," Tasuki replied as politely as possible, so as not to offend him. He could tell from the slightly less smiley face of the man-kitten that he didn't like it.

            "Chibi Chiri it is then! Hello, Chibi Chiri! My name is Nuriko, but sooner or later you'll be calling me Mrs. Tasuki!" Nuriko said without any feeling of embarrassment. Tasuki felt as if he wanted to throw him to Timbuktu.

            "Please, not in front of the kids," Tasuki muttered and stepped out of the lift as soon as it stopped at their floor.

            "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. But you know, Tasu-chan," Nuriko said as he put on a serious face, "You're not exactly allowed to have pets in my apartment."

            Tasuki became blue with trepidation. That serious face meant something. He braced himself,  preparing for the worse. Suddenly, Nuriko's serious face popped out a smile and said, "But for you, I can make an exception. You take good care of our lil' Chibi Chiri now, OK?"

            With that, he bounded off happily towards his home, giving him a flying kiss as he went. Tasuki muttered "Good riddance" before rushing off to his own home, locking the door behind him. He set the man-kitten down and walked over to the fridge to get himself a can of beer. The man-kitten surveyed the place and noticed that it was quite homey for a bachelor boy who worked in a construction site. He had expected his master to have careless heaps of clothing and papers or garbage everywhere, but this was the least he had expected. He was impressed. He jumped onto Tasuki's sofa and rolled happily on the cushions.

            "Like my place, huh?" Tasuki said as he sat down beside the man-kitten. "I always try to keep it as tidy as possible. You might not when I'm gonna bring home a gorgeous gal to spend the night or for the rest of my life with. It's possible, you know. Even my good looks are able to attract someone like that Nuriko fellow there. There's no doubt I'll be the ladies' man someday. Besides, it was that Nuriko pervert who called in a housekeeper for me to clean the house, and it's under his expense, so I wouldn't want to miss out on free service now, would I?"

            The man-kitten continued to stare at him with interest. Tasuki noticed and asked, "What? What are you looking at, Chibi Chiri? Gee, Chibi Chiri sure is a corny name, isn't it?"

            The man-kitten purred in reply.

            "Yeah, I think it's really lame. I actually haven't figure out a name for you yet, but I don't wanna offend Nuriko by simply changing it. Maybe I could twist it a little. Let's see, Chibi Chiri. Well, you won't be chibi anymore once you've come of age. So Chibi is out of the question...Hmm Maybe I could throw away the word 'Bi' and make it to...Chichiri. How does that sound? You wanna be called Chichiri?"

            The man-kitten mewed and leapt onto Tasuki's lap, reaching over to lick Tasuki. Tasuki chuckled and stroked the man-kitten's blue hair, "Alright then, Chichiri it is. And now our Chichiri here needs a bath."

            At that word, the man-kitten—now called Chichiri—went helter-skelter all over the place trying to get away from Tasuki. Like cats, he hated baths and it took Tasuki a great effort to haul him to the bathroom and dip him into the bathtub. Chichiri hissed and mewed for dear life to get out of the water that felt like poison to him. Tasuki took off his work clothes and went into the tub with him to bath him.

            "Now hold still, you little baka neko! You've been in that pet shop surrounded by flea-covered felines and I'm not letting you go another step around my house carrying whatever you have brought in from that pet shop! Stay still!"

            After much struggling, Chichiri finally got tired and stayed put while Tasuki ran the lukewarm water over him. He winced once in a while as Tasuki scrubbed him with the soapy sponge and shampooed his blue hair. When he reached over to scrub his 'down there', Chichiri practically stayed stock still, his face suddenly gone all red. Tasuki continued to scrub it while saying, "We better get every inch of you clean now, shouldn't we? Goodness knows what kind of germs lurks in that pet shop of yours, and I don't wanna risk you catching an infection. Men's most important part of the body is 'down there', if you know what I mean. I ain't gonna be blame for making you infertile, I can tell you that."

            After the bath, Tasuki rubbed him dry and blow-dried his hair and his tail and within minutes, was all squeaky clean. As Tasuki knelt beside the very clean Chichiri inspecting his work, he rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, "You know what? You look even cuter now that you're all high and dry. You actually look quite handsome now."

            Chichiri went slightly pink listening to his master's compliment. Tasuki came closer to smell him and grinned in satisfaction. He had used cinnamon and peach fragrance shampoo on Chichiri and strawberry fragrance body bath on Chichiri (courtesy from Nuriko, which Tasuki had never used until now) and he had to admit, Chichiri smelt heavenly. He picked Chichiri up and nuzzled his nose on his, smelling the nape of his neck. He tickled and fondled with Chichiri's body playfully, making Chichiri mewed in delight. Moments later after he set him back down on the floor, Tasuki touched Chichiri's 'down there' lightly and commented, "Hah! Mine is _way_ bigger than yours! I gotta get some clothes for you to wear. Looks like it's shopping for me tomorrow, or maybe I could get it from free again from Nuriko. He seemed to have a liking for you too..."

            Chichiri blushed even redder as Tasuki continued to leave his finger on his 'down there', contemplating whether to spend the money or get free service from the tranvestite. Not only that, his fingers continued to travel around that area. Chichiri didn't know why, but he suddenly was breaking into cold sweat as his temperature went higher and higher to the point he couldn't control...

            "That's it! I'll go and buy it instead!" Tasuki suddenly exclaimed, taking his hand off abruptly from where he was touching, breaking off the steam Chichiri was feeling. "No way am I going near that tranvestite and have any further ties with him, not even for the gold in the world! Gee, I gotta bath. I smell like heck!"

            Chichiri pouted and curled up on the sofa, offended that Tasuki who had just got him into the 'mood' broke it off so abruptly without any warning. For the rest of the evening, Chichiri refused to acknowledge Tasuki, which baffled him a little, but not taken seriously. When it was time to hit the hay, Tasuki called Chichiri to come to the room, but Chichiri refused to budge from his place. Tasuki was annoyed at first, then shrugged and went into his room, snoring almost immediately when his body came in contact with the soft bed.

            Slowly, the man-kitten could be seen crawling into the bedroom. He mewed a little and Tasuki grunted groggily, reaching down absentmindedly and scooped Chichiri up onto bed. He muttered, "Oyasumi nasai, Chichiri. Sleep tight."

            Chichiri licked his nose in reply.

A/N: OK, now this surely is the beginning of a pretty relationship. What would be of our little out-of-this-world couple? Tune in to find out! Reviews plz!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: So, did you enjoy my fic so far? Sorry for the late update. Got caught in exams and assignments and other stuff. Let's get on with the story then, shall we? And we shall see the world from Chichiri's POV. Most of the characters here in this story are taken from a fav local comic artist of mine, so a disclaimer is also needed here. Maybe a bit long, but has a bit of connection with the rest of this story. So if you feel you wanna skip this, it's your choice.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

PUSS, PUSS

Days turned to weeks. Weeks turned to months. Almost a year later, Chichiri grew from a tiny little bubbling midget to a tall and handsome young man, or in his case, cat. He had the look of a young man in his early 20s when really his age is only about 1 1/2 cat years. His hair has grown longer and so did his bangs. Tasuki had always made an effort to tie it up into a nice long ponytail and dress him up as cool as possible using his own clothes so that when everyone sees him, they would be impressed. It's hard to believe that this fair and handsome young man walking beside this feisty redhead would actually be a man-cat. Sometimes you would see Chichiri having piggy-back rides on Tasuki, but Tasuki didn't seem to mind and people would sometimes be amazed to see him able to tolerate Chichiri's weight, but in truth, despite the grown-up look he had, he weight no more than an average grown cat's weight (**A/N: Amazing, huh?**).

And ever since Chichiri grew up, ours truly Nuriko was getting even more and more attracted to Tasuki. He admired the fact that his 'Tasu-chan' could take care of the man-cat so well and keep him so healthy and in tip-top shape. He would come over to his house with the excuse that he wanted to see his little Chibi Chiri but both the redhead and the blue-haired man-cat knew that his intentions weren't just that simple.

One evening, after another day's hard work and another tiring visit from his transvestite landlord Nuriko, Tasuki went a little balistic. He ranted and raved and punched at his sofas angrily, cursing and swearing real bad. Even Chichiri, who loved to stick around with him, cowered away in fright.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Kuso! I really, really hate that Nuriko! Why can't he just leave me alone already! I've already told him before that I don't like him, but does he listen? NO! He had to come over and over again to see me and if I deny him, he'll throw me all the way to Hokkaido!"

Chichiri stared pitifully at his master and braved himself to inch closer towards Tasuki. As soon as he saw Tasuki trying to catch his breath and not trashing about like mad, he laid his hands on his thigh and purred. Tasuki took one look at Chichiri's smiley eyes and soon calmed down. He heaved a huge sigh and tickled Chichiri's throat and said, "Sorry if I scared you or anything. It's just so frustrating when someone you just don't like constantly bugs you, you know. How would you feel if there's someone who you don't like, and is not a real woman for the fact, comes to your house everyday and bugs you like there's no tomorrow? You wouldn't like it now, would you?"

Chichiri purred and shook his head.

"See, even you wouldn't like it now, would you? I just wish that he could just find someone who he could glob all over and leave me alone..."

Chichiri stared at him for a while, purring. Tasuki seemed rather frustrated, maybe tired. He couldn't blame him. He had a hard day's work at the construction site and he had to endure Nuriko's obsessive attitude towards him. Chichiri reached up and laid Tasuki's head on the armrest of the sofa and purred, licking his cheek. He stayed there and watched as Tasuki slowly fall into a deep sleep before sneaking out of the window of his bedroom and climbed onto the balcony stairs. His body may have kind of outgrown the window gap but he was still a half-cat, and he can still squeeze into cramped places like one. He pawed around, checking out the neighbourhood like he always did every night.

He started with the ground floor. There are about 4 accommodations for every floor, and there are about 15 floors in this apartment. Nuriko definitely took really good consideration for safety issues because all windows of the bedroom windows were equipped with the fire escape stairs situated at the balcony. Chichiri knew almost all the names of the residents in this apartment since he stayed in Rekka-Shin Apartment and knew all their habits through his night spying. At ground floor there were the Matsumoto family who were right now having a nice family dinner together talking about their day's event—typical one big happy family—and the college dropout who's lounging on the couch in front of the TV doing God knows whatever he's doing.

Then there was this Miko lady and her boyfriend Tensuo in the first floor. They were both ballet dancer and he likes to see them practice every night. They were heading for the states champion and really worked hard for their goal. After that there was little boy Makura and his big brother Shou under the same first floor. They were both brothers born from different fathers. They were bastard children and through Chichiri's observation, Shou was dumped by his mother at his aunt's house and disappeared until he received news when he about 16 years old that his mother died of a viral infection, leaving him to take care of Makura. Their relationship still aren't too good but there's still time to patch things up. After all, they are half of their mother's.

On the second floor, there's university boy Kai who became mute because of an accident that ruined his voice box. He had a gal pal who loves to pop by and visit. If Chichiri weren't mistaken, her name was Reika. She was very pretty and it was obvious that Kai liked her. Kai saw Chichiri peeping in and smiled; he was used to his visits. He fed him some tidbits and continued writing in his diary. Chichiri stole a glimpse and could tell from Kai's face that something bad had happened between him and Reika. On the table was a frame ready to be wrapped and in it was a butterfly collection. Maybe it was for Reika. He heard her on one of her visits that she was going to have her birthday party 3 months later. Then Chichiri moved on to a place where the famous fashion designer Raichu. Her story was that she pretty much was dating the wrong kind of guy who didn't like her profession and had met someone new who appreciated her works, yet was younger than him, and was her boyfriend's college student. Now she was torn between choosing the student or her boyfriend. After that he moved over to another home and saw husband and wife Mr. & Mrs. Bunzaemon. Mrs. Bunzaemon cared for her husband more than her own career, which was why she quit her job and became a full-time housewife to look after her husband who had recently been diagnosed with bone cancer. Though she had no idea that her husband had hidden a will in his secret drawer that entitled every of his property to her. Chichiri was a good listener and only he Mr. Bunzaemon told him his secret. Finally there's Rinnie, an exchange student from Malaysia who's in a relationship with her classmate Jim Suzuki. Problem is Jim was a motorbike speed racer and she wasn't the kind that is up for speed. Things are getting a bit worse when Jim was obsessed with a black bike rider who often want to challenge him to speed but never got the chance because the guy always got away. Rinnie was now attempting to learn biking and pose as the black rider to satisfy his obsession. Chichiri wasn't sure whether it was the right idea or not. She might get herself killed doing this, but he had no part of this. He was just an observer.

On the third floor, there was Michitsu a.k.a. Daimonji, Kamatsu, Andou and Watanabe with her boyfriend Alias Tsukino (a half-American). Michitsu leads a double life—as one of the lead singers in a boy band called 'Secret X' and a student at Tankou University, the same as Kai. He's known as Daimonji in the group and he and his gang had been very famous, making their mark in the entertainment business and the hearts of millions in the world. Yet he still prioritised his education, so he continued to study under his real name Michitsu, using a disguise. He still hadn't had the guts to tell his childhood girlfriend Keiko the truth about his double life though, coz she was a great fan of 'Daimonji' in the Secret X boy band and didn't want to ruin her fantasies. Kamatsu has a problem with his speech (he stutters quite badly) but he's very good in writing his words. He always wanted to perfect his writing to make up for his bad stutters. He recently is having a crush with a girl whom he never knew her name in the same tuition class. He had written many love letters—304 letter altogether to be exact—to try to express his love for her but never had the courage to give it to her, afraid that his stutter would make her reject him. Andou also has a crush on his old college mate Junko whom they met every fortnight since their graduation. But his way of handling his emotions was like Helga in Hey Arnold. He argues a lot with her and refuses to acknowledge anything good about her. And he always liked to act tough about it. Junko still continued to treat him just like any other good college mate would treat their friends, but Andou was still keeping all the feelings inside him. Watanabe was someone who survived a suicide attempt by Alias due to a failed relationship. And they both became best of friends because Alias helped Watanabe with her relationship. Somehow, the help kinda retaliated and they soon found that they're unable to forget each other. Soon their love became official and Watanabe moved in with Alias.

There were only 2 people living in the fourth floor. Maybe because the number 4 was an unlucky number for the Asians and they were the only ones not superstitious about it. Matsuo lived alone, a fresh graduate from university who just started working. He seemed bored of his repetitive life and all he wanted was a change. Chichiri thought that maybe he needed a girlfriend. Hotohori the businessman also lived there alone and was making his way up to a promotion. He was quite rich in a way, but he decided to save more, maybe enough from his promo job to move out and live in a condo or a bungalow. No one lived in the fifth floor due to a rumour that someone committed suicide at that floor. Nuriko waved away that rumour but placed some incantation papers just in case and gave offerings during the so-called rumoured date of death. So far, nothing scary happened, except the occasional sound of footsteps and whispered voice heard to those who dared to venture there. On the sixth floor, lived Tasuki (who is still sleeping on the sofa), Nuriko (tying his hair in braids) and another guy. He looked American and dressed American, but he spoke fluent Japanese. He was known as Albert Kay and not much people know about his background, but only Chichiri knew his secret: he was the youngest secret agent working for the CIA back in his country trying to look for the missing daughter of a very important ambassador from Ukraine. The peace negotiation between his country and Ukraine depends on the finding of the daughter and he had to find her before Ukraine starts pointing fingers at his country. He sometimes get into a bit of stress because of that but Chichiri was there to listen to his troubles because he knew he wouldn't snitch. That night he was fed tidbits again and was told that he's now getting warmer on the trail for the daughter. He even showed him a photo of her. Quite pretty.

On the seventh floor, lived the Hayai family with husband Kaito, wife Aneki and son Anduki. They were having a family dinner like the Matsumoto-s and from what Chichiri heard in the past during Kaito's story-telling to his son, Kaito was a son of an underground mafia and a walking target for all other rival mafias, and Aneki was his personal bodyguard. He didn't like it at first because she was a girl, but after much time together, Kaito realized Aneki's potential and had fallen in love with her. She had rejected him before but after Kaito saved her from being killed when being attacked by a neighbouring mafia group, she quit her job and lived in seclusion with him in this apartment and finally got married. Then there were four men Ichigo, Dakaru, Wakou and Barasui, and a boy Chiihara living under the same home at the same floor. The men worked under the same confectionery store called **Kaoru's Cake House **and all of them were committed except Wakou—Ichigo with a girl called Lalaru who going under rehab for an eating disorder; Dakaru with Juyuke who used to hate him because he looked like her ex-boyfriend Benny when she was studying overseas, but finally gotten over the heartbreak; and Barasui with his childhood friend Aimo who came back to look for him after long years of separation. Barasui was ugly once, but after a car accident that required facial reconstruction, he became quite good-looking and Aimo almost didn't recognized him until she heard him play the violin. Wakou adopted Chiihara when he found him hurt and abandoned at a nearby street. He soon heard that his mother had died during the birth and his father refused to acknowledge him when he found him. He beat him so bad that Wakou had to take him to the hospital and took care of him ever since. After all officials gone through, Wakou officially became Chiihara's father. Rumour has it he could be gay, which is why he never had a girlfriend.

Sakura, Wakou's sister, lived with her midget boyfriend Anta (**A/N: Not Anta from Slam Dunk, OK?**) on the eighth floor. Anta was born a midget and when they first met, he was about 20cm apart from her height and more girly than he should be, coz he was born and raised in a house with a mother and full of sisters (he's now 10cm apart). Sakura was the tom between them and had studied bakery in Italy and came back to look for him and confess her love to him. Anta had always had a crush on her and when she asked if he would like to stay with her while she earn her keep in her brother's cake house before getting a cuisine job at any prestigious hotels, he readily agreed. Seemed like only Wakou didn't approve their relationship though. Next to them was Shizuka who had a very special boyfriend—Jing who had a split personality disorder. He's very nice and very sweet to her but whenever it rains, he becomes a different Jing: the Jing who's bad-tempered and always having issues. Wasn't easy to have a weird boyfriend but she loved both Jing-s all the same. Next to her was Cherry and Mike, both migrated from Florida to live in Japan to forget the sad tragedy of Mike's brother Gary committing suicide after getting an incurable brain cancer. He came home to say goodbye to them, then jumped off from their 10-floored apartment.

On the ninth floor, Poke is currently having a relationship with basketball player Meioh in Chiba High, a typical government high school just a couple of blocks away from Shohoku High (**A/N: Now this is from Slam Dunk:p**). Nothing special about their story, Chichiri assumed. Just some typical "come up to you and confess" kind of style. Then there's Ran and Sukito at the next door. Chichiri had differentiating them at first because Sukito looks more like a girl and Ran looks more like a guy than they should be, when Ran was supposed to be the girlfriend and Sukito was supposed to be the boyfriend. Makes life interesting, though. Next to them was Joey Guritsa who was a famous writer. Chichiri had popped by to listen to his woes and found out that in his teenage years he once fell in love with a vampire named Isabelle, but she decided to turn her back against her nature and not suck blood, just so he wouldn't die and become a vampire like her. In the end, she just disappeared in thin air. His loss gave him the gift of writing and soon his works became the best seller in the literary field, yet he continued to believe that one day Isabelle would return to him. Kyouko lived next to him and she had a secret bodyguard—a ninja—protecting her sent by her father because of his line of work. Chichiri never found out about her father's work, but it sure spelled something big and important. He had to look hard to spot the ninja Shouji who was good at hiding behind the shadows. He looked like someone from Naruto though. Chichiri thought it best not to be too curious about this ninja.

Shen and Pinna lived on the tenth floor. They had been through a lot of trials and errors because Shen was actually 2 years younger than Pinna, and her family and friends from her circle had certain discrimination about having younger boyfriends, but they finally pulled through and are ready to get engaged. Dr. Chiba and Lupa lived next to them. Lupa was an accident-prone and often visited his clinic to get bandaged and band-aided because of fights. Dr. Chiba had a girlfriend before, but got dumped when she found out that he was actually in love with Lupa, and the feeling was mutual. Kyoto lived alone on the eleventh floor. It seemed like he was the only one on that floor and seemed to have issues with couples. Chichiri lent him an ear and found out that he was grieving for his girlfriend who committed suicide 6 years ago. They broke up due to the fact that his girlfriend hadn't fully torn away from her ex and she did the unthinkable. Kyoto had been beating himself up ever since. Mother and daughter Yume and Yumi lived on the twelfth floor. Yume divorced her husband over an affair and Yumi hated her for tearing the family apart. They weren't in speaking terms and things didn't seem too good between them. Situations worsen off especially when Yume is a teacher in the same school Yumi was studying. Chichiri had heard both sides of their story and noticed that both wanted to patch up, only they're too stubborn to talk about it face to face. Yukito lived next to them and seemed to have a crush on Kyoto on eleventh floor. She knew about his past but she couldn't figure out how to get him out of his grieving mind and into reality, and also relieve him of his pain.

No one else lived on the thirteenth floor (coz it's an unlucky number too) and the fifteenth floor (coz it's too high), but on the fourteenth floor, lived a group of teenagers under one roof and a married couple next to them. Another doctor lived next to them and another well-to-do family lived beside him. The group of teenagers was namely Hiroshi, Kyoko, Makoto, Katsuya and Miki. All of them studied under the same private high school across town and lived under the same roof to save cost. Hiroshi and Kyoko were a couple and are going steady, planning to get married after college. Katsuya has a crush on Miki and became a willing slave for her, and Miki refused to admit that she, too, had the hicks for Katsuya, treating him like a servant, a dog, a useless fool to hide it. Another Helga-like character. Makoto, on the other hand, has a crush on the well-to-do family's daughter Ai-chan, but wasn't sure if she liked him back because he wasn't as rich as her and he was a born midget, like Anta. If only Chichiri could tell them that Ai felt the exact same way for him too. The man of married couple next door was their high school teacher named Nueno Meizuke a.k.a. Nube because of his thick eyebrows. His wife Yukime works in a ice-skating rink centre. Her body contracted some sort of a genetic disorder that she cannot be exposed to heat and sunlight for too long or she will get very, very bad rashes. The doctor next door was Tamamo Kyozuke, a cousin 4 times removed from Nube's father's side who works across town in a respectable hospital. He's a little cold and distant (more like half of Severus Snape from Harry Potter) and he's gay. He secretly has a small crush on Nube and was a little jealous when he married Yukime, which is why he moved into the apartment to keep an eye on him.

After doing his usual rounds and getting stuffed with tasty tidbits from all the occupants of Rekka-Shin Apartment, he went back down on the way to Tasuki's bedroom. Tasuki was already awake and watching TV. Chichiri had to pass by Nuriko's home to get to his home and he saw him with Hotohori. Hotohori was there to pay the rent and were standing there chitchatting about simple stuff. Chichiri suddenly noticed something in Hotohori's eyes that seemed like those he saw in TV. It seemed rather familiar, like some sort of feeling Tasuki taught him about. He just couldn't put his mind to it.

Suddenly, Chichiri had an idea. He ran quickly all the way to Tasuki's room through the window gap and rummaged through the books that were under Tasuki's bed. Soon he found it: a photo album of the days in Rekka-Shin Apartment. Tasuki has a habit of taking pictures of everyday life whenever he lived in a new place (so occasionally you would see him with a camera round his neck), and he had an album for every place. Chichiri brought the album to Tasuki and purred.

"Hey, Chichiri. Been out spying at people again?" Tasuki smiled as he stroked Chichiri's blue hair. Then he noticed the album in his mouth. "What's this? Hey, it's the album when I'm living here!"

He opened the album and looked through all the pictures. Chichiri joined in and Tasuki explained to him one by one.

"Ah, this is when I first moved in, and this is where I had my house-warming party with all the residents. This is that darn sicko Nuriko and this is when Nuriko sponsored the entire Rekka-Shin Apartment residents to a barbecue at the beach after winning a lottery. That bugger held me so tight my arm almost broke. Hey, that's the rich businessman Hotohori beside him. He was the one to introduce me to work under construction. Why did you want to see this picture album anyways? It's not entirely done yet."

Unknown to his master, Chichiri had a plan ahead.

A/N: Oh ho ho, Chichiri! I hope it's not something naughty! Recognize the characters in 14th floor? They're some of my fav characters from my all-time fav anime Jigoku Sensei Nube! Nya ha ha ha! Always wanted to include them in my fic, so a disclaimer needed too. Wanna know more? You gotta read more! Reviews plz!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Come on! Let's not waste anymore time! We gotta get funky with this story, man! Sorry for the late update. Experiencing a very, VERY long WBS (Writer's Block Syndrome). Well, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

PUSS, PUSS

"Yaparrii! We're going to have sushi bento tonight!"

Tasuki and Chichiri just done their Sunday grocery shopping and were on their way home after ordering a takeout of sushi bento. Chichiri was, as usual, getting his piggy back ride on Tasuki and passers-by were watching in fascination not only at the sight of a real life man-cat, but also at the fact that Tasuki was able to withstand Chichiri's weight.

"They still don't get it that you weight just as much as a normal adult house cat does now, do they?"

Chichiri mewed in reply. He found their ignorance rather amusing too.

"We should've gotten some sake to compliment this bento, but we have to finish drinking the beer in my fridge first…"

As Tasuki continued to chitchat with his pet, Chichiri saw at a distance their fourth floor neighbour Hotohori coming home from the opposite direction. Chichiri grinned at the sight of him, his kitty mind beginning to work through its sockets. Without warning, Chichiri got off Tasuki's back and ran up towards the nearest tree and stayed there. Tasuki yelled for him to come down but he refused to budge.

"Hey! You baka neko, what's gotten into you? You chasing invisible squirrels or something? Get back down here!"

"Nande, Tasuki-san?" Hotohori came over to see what the commotion was about.

"Ne, my neko suddenly jumped off me and almost flew all the way up to that tree. I dunno what's gotten into him just now. Like he's chasing some invisible non-existent prey or something."

"Ah, the famous man-cat Chichiri," Hotohori looked up to see Chichiri mewing back at him on the tree with a mischievous grin on his face. "Looks like the tidbits you scrounge up from us still not enough to slow you down, huh?"

"He eats practically as much as a human does," Tasuki rolled his eyes.

"He's still a neko after all, and neko-s have moods," Hotohori grinned as he rolled up his sleeves. "Let me see if I can persuade him down."

So saying, he opened his briefcase and fished out a slightly oily brown bag. Inside were a half-eaten burger and a few pieces of French fries. He widened the brown bag and held it out for Chichiri, coaxing him to come down. Chichiri eyed at the food and sniffed at the air for a while before jumping down to get it. Unfortunately, it wasn't smooth landing. He dropped on his head and sent him falling face first onto the ground. Tasuki exclaimed in horror and quickly picked Chichiri up before his pet crushes him further to reach for the bag of food.

"Gomenasai! Gomenasai! Daijobu deska?" Tasuki apologized profusely as he helped Hotohori up on his feet.

"Daijobu, daijobu," Hotohori said as he patted himself off the dirt. He handed the brown bag to Chichiri and he gladly accepted it.

"Bad neko! Bad neko! I seriously don't know what's gotten into him. He's reckless, yes, but never like this," Tasuki shook his head in dismay as he watched Chichiri in his arm chewing at the half-eaten burger.

"Moods, Tasuki. Neko has moods. Man-cats are of no exceptions."

"What's all the commotion about…Ah! Konbanwa, Tasu-chan!"

Tasuki sweatdropped. He didn't need to turn around to know that the flirting voice belonged to our resident transvestite Nuriko. Tasuki greeted him back with a fake smile plastered over his face. For once, though today, Nuriko aimed for Chichiri first. He fussed over him and baby-talked to him like some little four-year-old kindergartener, saying things like 'kawaii' and 'kakoe' and stuff like that. Tasuki was only too glad to let Chichiri be the center of attraction as long as Nuriko did not focus on him. Chichiri was glad to entertain him only because he always had kitty biscuits in hand for him to feast on.

As Tasuki let Chichiri be Nuriko's rag doll for a while, he caught a glimpse of Hotohori staring intently at Nuriko. He thought he saw a hint of admiration and fascination in his eyes as he watched every move Nuriko made. A flush of pink went across his cheeks and a small smile creased on his lips. Tasuki turned to Nuriko who too oblivious and too engrossed in tossing Chichiri up in the air to notice Hotohori ogling at him like he was the most beautiful person in the world. Tasuki decided to bring Hotohori back to reality.

"Oi, Hotohori-san. Daijobu ka?"

"Huh?" Hotohori's face looked as if he had just woken up from a dream. "Ah, dai…daijobu. Err…I gotta go now. Got loads of paperwork to do. Sayonara, Tasuki-san, Nuriko-san, Chichiri-chan."

"Sayonara, Hotohori-san!" Nuriko waved him goodbye without looking at him. Tasuki watched as Hotohori disappeared into the apartment and began to wonder what that was about. When Nuriko gave Chichiri back to him and started flirting with him, he noticed that Chichiri was also facing the direction of the apartment, looking at Hotohori getting into the lift and stealing a glance at Nuriko before the lift door closed shut. The man-cat was having this rather mysterious smile on his face and seemed as if he had something in his mind.

Another look at Nuriko and Tasuki began to understand what Chichiri was trying to do.

After an hour of trying to get away from Nuriko, Tasuki and Chichiri returned to the sanctuary of their home and enjoyed their sushi bento and beer (well, only Tasuki could drink it). He eyed suspiciously at Chichiri munching away at the salmon sushi and fried egg and thought that if he didn't get his suspicion off his chest right now, he's gonna freak out. After downing some beer, he asked, "Chichiri, what exactly are you trying to pull?"

Chichiri mewed questioningly in reply.

"Don't play dumb with me. I know what you're up against. You're trying to pair Hotohori and that transvestite together now, aren't you?"

Chichiri gave his master an 'Oops, I'm busted' grin.

"I knew you were up to something when I saw you looking at Hotohori weirdly," Tasuki chuckled and clapped Chichiri on the back. "I thought I recognized that look on his face when I accidentally caught a glimpse of him staring at Nuriko like some kind of celestial princess. You don't think that he's actually in love with Nuriko now, do you?"

Chichiri nodded in reply, a large smile on his face indicating his seriousness.

"Man, that's one twisted guy if I've seen one. I mean, being way too beautiful and yet not have a girlfriend in one thing, but to be in love with a person who's friggin' gender confused? That is so weird!"

Chichiri mewed, giving him a 'So? Are you gonna help me pair them up or what?' look.

"Hmm…if I pair them, I might lose out some of the free benefits I've earned from him…" Tasuki began to consider the options. "But then again, if I don't pair them, I won't be able to rid myself of his blatant flirting and might end up under worse situations if I offend him…Hmm…"

Chichiri mewed at him impatiently, wanting him to hurry up and make up his bloody mind. Tasuki took a long sip of beer before belching and said, "Chichiri my friend, fetch me a pen and paper. We're officially playing the role of Stupid Cupid!"

--:--

Hotohori rubbed his temples and cracked his knuckles after long hours of staring and typing away on the computer. Being a businessman does has its downside, especially when you're not exactly in the top, and in Japan, when you're not in the top, paperwork is what you mostly have to face.

He took a sip of green tea and leaned back on his armchair. His mind began to drift to that fateful afternoon when he helped his sixth floor neighbour Tasuki get Chichiri off the tree. He had his share of looking after cats back when he was in high school, and he knew enough to tell that Chichiri was in one of his moods again. He had to admit the first time he saw Chichiri, he was rather fascinated. He didn't think he would see a real-life man-cat since everyone had been talking about it getting popular in the market. He heard that his boss and his boss's assistant having one but he had never seen one face to face. He envied Tasuki for able to buy Chichiri under a birth defect discount when he couldn't afford one for himself yet.

But that wasn't the main issue. The main issue was that he got to see his crush Nuriko. He didn't think he would meet him today. He would be able to catch a few glimpse of him or have a short chat with him whenever he had the chance, but honestly he rarely got to see him often. Today when he got to see him more than just two minutes was like heaven to him. He had never told anyone before but he had a secret preference for men, preferably those who are tough and happy-go-lucky like Nuriko. His family had pressured him to get married and carry on the bloodline, but he simply had no interest in girls. That was until he met Nuriko. He was caught in the middle of an outlaw gang asking for money from him during his early days in the working world back then. He would've showed off his karate moves he learnt in high school had he not been wearing his business clothes. To him, getting dirty was like telling him to jump off a cliff. And that's when Nuriko came in. He fought them in his party dress without as much as breaking a sweat and told him to be careful before joining his awaiting girlfriends to their party. He thought in disgust at first for being saved by a drag queen, but when he met him again at a bookstore, he was wearing his normal jogging sportswear yelling loudly at a man who was trying to photograph a girl's underwear with his cell phone and punching the lights out of him. Hotohori soon knew that he had found his one true love, and when Nuriko had a vacancy at the Rekka-Shin Apartment, he immediately moved out of his previous flat to stay there, may it be an unlucky number or not.

He knew Nuriko was originally a male, but his decision to turn his back on his old-fashioned family and pursue his dreams of being a pure woman fascinated him. He loved the way he walked around like he owned the place and his outspoken attitude. His strength made him wonder if he was a sumo-wrestler or a body-builder, minus the muscles. He soon found out that he loved him too much to care whether he would turn into a real woman or not, as long as he knows what's inside that counts. Yet, despite his career walking around talking in front of high-profile clients and doing presentations in front of the board of directors and colleagues, he couldn't muster up the guts to confess to Nuriko about his love for him.

Out of the blue, he heard a scratching noise on his window. He turned to see that it was Chichiri at the fire escape stairways scratching at the glass with something in his mouth. Hotohori smiled and took out a plate of leftover noodles he had for dinner for Chichiri to eat.

"Konbanwa, Chichiri-chan," Hotohori said as he opened the window to let the man-cat in. "Here for tidbits again?"

This time, Chichiri didn't go for the food. He held up the thing he had in his mouth for Hotohori and let out a muffled mew. He noticed the thing in his mouth was an envelope sealed with a red heart-shaped sticker on it.

"Nandeska, Chichiri-chan? For me?"

Chichiri nodded. No sooner did Hotohori take the envelope from Chichiri's mouth than the man-cat ran off and out of the window in a split second. Hotohori didn't even have the chance to ask him where he was going or was he going to stay for his leftover noodles.

"That neko seriously has mood swings," Hotohori smiled as he shook his head. He opened the envelope and opened the letter and read what was in it:

**_Dear Hotohori-san,_**

**_How was your day? Sorry I didn't pay attention to you this evening. I was too caught up with playing with Chichiri. That little neko is so darn cute! Anyway, I was wondering if you're free this weekend. I tried asking Tasu-chan to hang out with me downtown but he said he was busy with his current construction project, and since I know you better than anyone else in this apartment, I was thinking maybe you could come with me._**

**_So, what do you say we meet up? I hope you'll say yes. I'll be at the park near the Kanagawa MRT station waiting. If you don't show up then, I get the idea. I won't force you. But I hope you'll come._**

**_Sincerely, Nuriko_**

It took Hotohori about five minutes to actually digest everything that he had just read. Did Nuriko, the love of his life, just asked him out for a date? He knew about Nuriko's outspokenness, but he actually asking him out on a date? This was like a dream come true! He had always wanted to ask Nuriko out, but he didn't think it would end up the other way round. He began fantasizing what the weekend would bring: probably having a romantic lunch together, then a nice horror movie where Nuriko would hold him every time there's a horror scene, then a walk in the park under falling autumn leaves where they'll share a passionate kiss, then Nuriko inviting him into his home where they'll share a fiery night together…

Hotohori slapped himself before he went too far with his imagination. He began rummaging through his wardrobe trying to find the right clothes to wear for the date that weekend.

--:--

Nuriko was in his bedroom hitting at the punching bag that hung just at the far corner. He heaved a sigh of relief after his punches reached to 300 times. It was a habit he had ever since he started his previous career. Before he was a cosmetics product seller and the landlord of Rekka-Shin Apartment, he was a kick boxer, which was a career which has been passed down from generation to generation for all the males in his family. He tried really hard to please his family as he was the only one among his siblings who had the right strengths and traits to cope with the world of kickboxing. He had an elder brother and a younger sister, but his elder brother was diagnosed with a rare heart disorder that forced him to stay away from any strenuous activities, and since his sister is not allowed to pursue a kickboxing career, he was the only one left.

He had realized what his true gender was when he watched his sister gussying up for a friend's wedding dinner. Curiosity overcame as he asked his sister to teach him how to apply makeup and wear a dress lent by her. He posed as his sister's distant cousin to attend the dinner and no one knew the difference whether he was a boy or girl. It was fun at first as he put on makeup and followed his sister around doing her girly activities whenever he was free from his kickboxing tournaments and competitions, but as time went by, he began to realize he wasn't meant for kickboxing at all. He noticed the small hints of fascination to some of the cute guys he was about to fight, which almost cost him his medals and titles. He began to realize that he was more at ease with himself when he's in female attire than when he's in male attire. He felt as if being tough was not the thing for him anymore. It felt more of a self-defense method than an actual good career life.

There was no surprise that his family went berserkers when he broke it to his family that he wanted to quit kickboxing and pursue a more feminine career and lifestyle. His sister wasn't too shocked about it, but his parents were. A heated argument between him and his parents ensued. In the end, he decided to leave home, severing all ties with his family. He found Rekka-Shin when it was at its worst condition and bought with all the prize money he had saved throughout his kickboxing career. He then had to start from scratch; depending on the rent he received every month and his salary as a cosmetics product seller to support his current lifestyle and for the sex-change surgery he planned to undertake. His sister secretly helped a little bit at first by putting some of her money into his bank account every month, but Nuriko finally decided that he do this on his own. The habit of body-building still continued though, and it proved itself useful whenever annoying people he didn't like flirted with him.

He soon heard a scratching at his window. He turned to see Chichiri scratching the glass wanting to be let in. He opened the window and asked, "Konbanwa, Chibi Chiri-chan. What have you got there?"

Chichiri let out a muffled mew as he handed an envelope in his mouth to Nuriko. As soon as he took it, Chichiri took off like a speeding bullet, catching the transvestite by surprise.

"A-re…? Anno…I was going to feed you biscuits…Omae…" Nuriko sighed as he closed the window. He was expecting to spoil Chichiri some more so that he could give Tasuki a better impression. He had always liked Tasuki when he applied to rent one of his homes in his apartment. There was something wild and untamed about this guy that he was rather fond of. Maybe it was because of his previous line of work that made him have this thing for wild, bad boys. The rest of his tenants were too docile for him to be noticed, and he was determined to do anything in his power to capture and keep Tasuki's heart. As he opened the letter and read the content, his heart skipped a beat as it went like this:

**_Dear Nuriko-san,_**

**_You were so busy playing with my Chibi Chiri and I was so hungry to have my dinner that I've forgotten to ask you if you're free this weekend. So, are you free? I don't have any new construction projects for now and I was wondering if you'd be free to go hang out with me. Catch a movie or something maybe. Meet me at the park near the Kanagawa MRT station and we'll see where we can go. I look forward to see you._**

**_Sincerely, your Tasu-chan_**

"He loves me!" Nuriko exclaimed as he hugged the letter and planted kisses on it. "He's actually in love with me! That boy! He didn't have to be so shy! Of course I'll go!"

Needless to say, he immediately rushed to his wardrobe to decide what to wear for that day.

--:--

"Are the letters given out?" Tasuki asked as he waited in his bedroom for Chichiri to come back through his window. Chichiri mewed and nodded, signaling everything had been done according to planned.

"What were their reaction? Anything short of excitement and happiness?"

Chichiri hugged himself and kissed at the air, signifying that both parties accepted the proposal.

"Sugoi! Now we're definitely going to have some fun!"

A/N: Oh boy! I'm not sure if I wanna know what Tasuki and Chichiri are trying to pull here. Who am I kidding? Of course I want to know, dumbass! Read on to find out the fun! Reviews plz!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Now let's see if the plan Tasuki and Chichiri had conjured up would work in pairing Hotohori and Nuriko together! This scandalous act sounds rather fun! Read on!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

PUSS, PUSS

The sun was shining brightly despite the autumn season. The wind blew softly, scattering the fallen autumn leaves all over the ground. In spite of the slightly cold weather, dozens of people could still be seen walking around minding their daily business, one of them being shopping.

Nuriko sat at the park bench waiting for his sweetheart to appear, dressed to the nines in his autumn dress, high platform shoes and a coat of fake polar bear fur. He had the right mind to just go straight up to Tasuki's home and go to the park at Kanagawa MRT station from there, but when he knocked on the door several times without response, he assumed that Tasuki must have had a head-start and decided reluctantly to do whatever the letter said he should. As he waited, he began to fantasize his would-be glorious date with Tasuki…

"_Sunimase, Nuri-chan," Tasuki runs towards him with a bouquet of red roses. "Am I too late?"_

"_Ie, I just got here," Nuriko replies shyly._

"_Here, my love," Tasuki said as he hands the bouquet of roses to him. "For you."_

"_Arigatogozaimasu, Tasu-chan. You shouldn't have."_

"_Did you know that red roses mean 'Aishiteru'? That's how I feel for you everyday of my life. Nothing is too much for you. So, my love, what places do you have in mind?"_

"_Anywhere you're going, sweetheart. You call the shots."_

"_Well, I have planned for us to have a nice Italian lunch, then to watch a movie of your choice, and finally a nice, long walk together at the Howaita Park where that famous actor and actress did their love scene. It's a great spot for passionate couples like we are."_

"_That sounds great, but time sure flies when we're having fun. By the time we finish doing all that, it'll be time for us to go back to the apartment and part to our homes."_

"_We don't have to go home if you don't want to." Tasuki grins naughtily. Nuriko blushes and looks away._

"_Anno…You're evil…"_

"_Not as evil as what you're thinking right now. Come, love, let's start this wondrous day with a kiss."_

"_Tasu-chan…"_

"_Nuri-chan…"_

"Nuriko-san!"

Nuriko broke from his fantasies and turned expectantly towards the voice. Unfortunately, instead of his beloved Tasu-chan, he was disappointed to see his fourth floor tenant Hotohori approaching him, holding something behind his back. Instead of wearing the normal business suit he had always seen him on, he was wearing an outstanding body-fit sleeveless T-shirt and leather jeans, with a denim jacket and fashionable shoes to match. Nuriko was taken aback for a moment at his change before frowning a little.

"Hotohori-san, what are you doing here?"

"A-re? Anno, you asked me out, remember?" Hotohori was caught by surprise, then presented a bouquet of red roses to him and smiled. "I hope I'm not too late."

"A…Arigatogozaimas…" Nuriko accepted the roses absentmindedly at first, surprised to see that one of his imagination coming true. Then he shook his head and said, "Ie, I don't remember asking you out. I'm actually waiting for my koibito Tasu-chan. _He_ asked me out."

"Demo, your letter did say to meet you here," Hotohori muttered as he took out the letter he kept in his pocket. Nuriko saw it and took his letter from his purse as well. As they compared them, they realized that the handwriting on both letters was exactly the same.

"That's not my handwriting," Nuriko blinked in confusion, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Not my handwriting either. Who did you say asked you out again?"

"My Tasu-chan. I mean, Tasuki."

Hotohori smiled a little and folded the letter before saying, "I think I know what's going on now."

"Sodeska. Me too," Nuriko scowled as he crumpled the letter and aimed it at the nearest trashcan.

An awkward silence ensued. Hiding behind a huge tree at the far end of the park was Tasuki carrying Chichiri on his back. They have waited until both Hotohori and Nuriko left the apartment completely before following behind them. Tasuki was horrified when Nuriko came knocking at his door before and was afraid his plans would backfire at him. He hid out in the closet together with Chichiri just in case Nuriko decided to barge into the house and waited until the knocking stopped. Luckily the worst never happened. He safely followed behind Nuriko all the way to Kanagawa MRT station and the park, taking care not to be busted.

"Anno, I wonder what's going to happen next," Tasuki said as he continued to watch Nuriko and Hotohori fidget around in nervousness. "I hope our plan works."

Chichiri mewed in agreement. He was the one who started it. He hoped it would end happily.

"Sunimase," Nuriko apologized as he gathered himself. "I got you dragged into this situation. Better not waste your time. When I get home, Tasu-chan is so going to…"

"Ma…Matte! Chotto matte, Nuriko-san!" Hotohori instinctively took Nuriko's wrist without realizing what he was doing. When he did, he let it go abruptly, blushing as he said, "Sunimase…"

"Nande, Hotohori-san?"

"Anno…" Hotohori scratched his chin nervously and continued, "Since we're already here anyway, we might as well spend the moment. I can't throw away these movie tickets to watch the latest horror craze 'Futago no Ichigo' now, can I? And there's no one else to go with me…"

"Honto ni? You mean that horror movie where that famous actor Takeshi Kaneshiro collaborates with Boa, Ayumi Hamasaki and the rock band Baad in their debut film? They are the bomb! I've been looking forward to that show for ages!" Nuriko exclaimed excitedly at first, then shrank away, clearing his throat, "Demo, how did you get it anyway? I thought it's sold out almost as soon as the ticket booth opens."

"One of the part-time ticket sellers is a son of one of my major clients. He managed to reserve two for me when I made the call and he gave it to me yesterday after his shift."

"What time did you get?"

"5.00 p.m. 5 hours from now."

"So, uh…" Nuriko fidded with his fringe before saying hesitantly, "Anno…what are we gonna do till then?"

"We can always go for Italian for starters."

Nuriko blushed slightly. It was almost the same as his imagination, but only the person he was with was different. He finally took a deep breath and replied, "Hai, Italian it is. Iku yo."

And so the so-called 'date' began. They started off by having a fine Italian lunch. Then they went from one shop to another to do a little shopping to pass the time. Nuriko was rather impressed that Hotohori knew as much fashion and cosmetics as a woman does and was glad that he had someone other than his female friends to talk about such things. After killing time at shopping, they went to watch 'Futago no Ichigo' and had the thrill of their lives being scared here and there by the scenes. Nuriko even jumped and hugged Hotohori just as Hotohori imagined he would, only to realize what he was doing and sat back, but not before Hotohori put a reassuring hand on his. After the movie, they actually took a walk at Howaita Park, just as Nuriko had imagined. Everything he imagined had come true, but in the form of someone else. Nuriko felt a little akward for all this coincidences happening.

All through the date, Tasuki and Chichiri never missed a bit, trailing behind secretly and watching their every move.

"Ahh! Subarashii! That movie was way cool!" Nuriko flung his arms out wide in satisfaction. "Takeshi gets cuter every time he's on screen!"

"Yeah, and I gotta admit the band Baad was rather good in acting," Hotohori chuckled. "Although Boa's makeup was a little too thick and Ayumi had gained a little weight."

"You noticed that too? Man, they really feel different on the movie screen compared to when they're in video clips."

"Demo, Nuriko-san, if you don't mind me asking…are you and Tasuki…well…involved with each other or something?"

Nuriko stared at Hotohori for a while, then replied, "Ie…I wish we were. No matter how much I try, he doesn't seem to show interest in me."

"And with good reason too," Tasuki muttered in disgust from the monument he was hiding behind.

"Demo, I won't give up though. All that's gonna change after my surgery. He's definitely the perfect guy I want to grow old with. Once I've become a real woman, he'll be sure to fall head over heels for me. I'm sure of it! Tasuki wa yasashii ne!"

"In your dreams, you she-male!" Tasuki pretended to gag himself, sticking at his tongue and pointed his finger at his throat. Chichiri made a kitty giggle.

"What exactly do you see in him anyway?" Hotohori asked suddenly after a long silence.

"Nani?" Nuriko was caught unaware by the question.

"What does he have that I don't?" Hotohori turned to Nuriko, his face both serious and blushing.

"Ho…Hotohori-san…" Nuriko was surprised to hear this coming out of the man he barely knew. He blushed too as he looked away and said, "Well…he's cute, for one thing, and he's funny and smart. I dunno, there's something about him that caught my attention when I first saw him coming to my apartment asking for a vacant home. Something really wild and different in him. I guess I'm a sucker for bad boy images, you know?"

"Bad boy? Do _I_ look like a bad boy image to you?" Tasuki turned to Chichiri. Seeing the funny expression on his man-cat's face, he sweatdropped and said, "Anno, forget I asked."

"Sou ka…" Hotohori sighed and looked away. Nuriko stared at him for a while before putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Ne, Hotohori-san, doushite nayo?"

"Nanimo."

"You didn't ask me out of curiosity now, did you?"

"Ie…"

"Then why the sudden reaction?"

"I think you can guess for yourself," Hotohori said a little grudgingly. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out that when a man asks you things like that, it means that he has feelings for you."

Nuriko suddenly burst out laughing as he clapped Hotohori's back humorously. After a few minutes of guffawing like an idiot, he said breathlessly, "You're such a funny man when you act so tough and pouty and all that. I almost find it cute. But seriously, I can't really consider you now. You know I want Tasuki as my koibito and I have no intention to date around with other people."

"That still doesn't change what I feel for you," Hotohori replied, flashing him a drop dead smile that can melt even the coldest of hearts. Nuriko looked away, pretending to be unperturbed by the suavity he just portrayed.

"How's about we just start of as friends? You know, like the brother-sister kind of friends. Would it make you less pouty than you are right now?"

"Hmm…Walking around like brothers and sisters. Well, that does sound much closer than just being friends…" Hotohori considered for a while before putting his arm around Nuriko in a friendly matter. "Alright, brother-sister friendship it is, one-san."

"Hai, oni-san!"

"I guess we're off to a good start," Tasuki said as he quietly left his hiding place. "Let's give them a little alone time. What do you say we get something nice and hot to drink? I'm freezing out here, and I fancy a sweet potato right now."

Chichiri mewed, licking his lips. The rest of the day was spent with a nice hot cup of vanilla and window shopping with Chichiri on his usual piggy back ride. Needless to say that when he got home, he was approached by a rather fuming Nuriko and was given a black eye and a threat that if he ever pulled another stunt like that his next rent will be tripled.

A/N: Yup, like Tasuki said, they're off to a good start. You wanna know how the relationship follows up? You gotta keep reading! Reviews plz!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Alright, people! Let's follow up on how the story goes between Nuriko and Hotohori, and also other sneaky plans Tasuki and Chichiri may have in store for us! Hayaku!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

PUSS, PUSS

The following days went rather well. Nuriko and Hotohori began to see each other rather frequently, especially when it comes to discussing beauty tips and shopping. They were just like brother and sister, very close to the point of inseparable. Nuriko would bust the lights out of anyone who did Hotohori any harm and Hotohori would give that Say-another word-and-I'll-kill you look if anyone dares to comment about Nuriko when they see through his feminine façade.

They even helped each other out on big favours too. When Hotohori couldn't stand his parents pressuring him about marriage, he begged Nuriko to pose as his girlfriend just to shut them up. Nuriko's almost feminine body figure and good looks managed to fool Hotohori's family and he was the centre of attention the entire night. Nuriko was rather impressed that Hotohori decided to move out and live on his own accord—and expenses—despite the fact that his upcoming family inheritance was enough to cover him and ensure him a non-working life, and was rather intrigued at the way his family members of the same blood could have so many different personalities under one roof. Hotohori felt rather embarrassed about his dysfunctional family but Nuriko thought they were interesting and cute.

So, to return Nuriko's favour, Hotohori gave Nuriko a blank cheque for him to fill in any amount he needed to cover for his surgery. Nuriko was hesitant at first and refused profusely.

"Nandayo? I don't accept charity!"

"Heiki, heiki ne. it's not charity. It's to return the favour of posing as my girlfriend last week."

"Ah, sonna kedo…" Nuriko was still feeling a little torn.  
"Daijobu, daijobu," Hotohori flashed him his killer smile again as he put the cheque into Nuriko's breast pocket. "The next time I see you I want to see a true woman."

"Anno…are you even alright with that? You said it yourself before you're not interested in girls…"

"It's what the inside that counts, and as long as I know the old Nuriko is still in you, I don't care what your outside looks like."

Hotohori had his hand on Nuriko's chest when he said that, taking Nuriko by surprise. Nuriko couldn't help blushing as he felt the touch of his fingers on his beating heart. He quickly took away Hotohori's hand and had that act-tough look on his face as he said, "Maa, remember you're only my oni-san. Don't try to act suave and take advantage of me! Hentai-ne!"

"Ah, souka, one-san," Hotohori chuckled as he put his hand down before leaving to his home. Nuriko called after him.

"I'm still gonna pay you back!"

"Ah, hai!"

Hotohori waved at him without looking as he walked towards the opening lift, but he didn't sound like he wanted Nuriko to pay him back though. Nuriko half-wished he would stop and wipe that killer smile off his face.

"Subarashii!" Tasuki jumped with glee as he closed the door of his home after eavesdropping on the two. "Just a little bit more and we'll be having free food at their wedding banquet!"

Chichiri mewed in agreement. He, too, couldn't wait for that to happen.

--:--

"Genki deska, one-san?"

"Ah…It still hurt a little to move…Itai ne…"

Nuriko was lying on the hospital bed in rather thin hospital garments. He had finally used both the cheque and his savings to do the sex-change surgery he had yearned for. Nothing much had changed on his appearance after going through the surgery. The only thing different was hidden under the covers over his lower body. So far, Nuriko had only done the surgery on his genitals. It would need about a couple of months or so before he can go for the surgery to enlarge his breasts. For now, he had to be bedridden and to be made sure that he took his regular hormone pills.

"Anyway, let me say, omedetou, one-san," Hotohori smiled as he took Nuriko's hand.

"Do…Doushite? You're the one who supplied the money anyway," Nuriko blushed, but didn't attempt to take away his hand.

"You're the one who had the guts to do it. You're the one who dared to defy your parents and go chase after your dream of becoming a woman. That took a lot of guts and determination."

"Sonna kedo…it's not like I'm the only one in this entire sekai to go through sex change surgery. There are lots of others who went through the same thing as me."

"Hai, hai. Demo, anno…sumanakata…"

"Nani?"

"I wasn't there to accompany you. I had a major meeting that day and I…"

"Maa, maa, oni-san. Daijobu ne. It's no big deal. I'm used to be alone anyway!" Nuriko waved away his apology. He didn't know why, but he couldn't stand looking Hotohori looking so sad and apologetic like that. It hurt him to see him like that. That feeling kinda took him by surprise.

"Demo…"

"Konichiwa, Nuriko-san!"

Hotohori's words were cut short by the sudden visitors busting in. It was his siblings and some of the residents of Rekka-Shin Apartment who were rather close to Nuriko, including Tasuki and Chichiri. They were all clad with gifts of all sort, most of them flowers and cards, and they were in all smiles. Nuriko smiled at upon seeing them.

"Ah, minna-san! You're all here!"

"We came here as soon as we got the word that you've recovered from surgery!" Nuriko's sister said as she put her gift on the side table. She looked almost exactly like Nuriko, only that she was more feminine and cuter than her brother. "Ne, looks like from now on I gotta start calling you one-chan!"

"Baka! Not that soon! I'm not fully complete yet!" Nuriko scolded playfully.

"Oi, Nuriko. You make yourself sound like some robot part or something," his brother chuckled. He, too, looked like Nuriko and his sister combined, but you can tell the difference by the weak and slightly pale look on his face due to his health condition.

"I definitely feel like one right now," Nuriko replied, then turned to Hotohori and said, "Oh, I suppose you haven't met. This is my fourth floor tenant Hotohori. Hotohori, this is my elder brother and younger sister I told you about. He's the one who sponsored most of the surgery bills."

"Heh? Honto nii?" Nuriko's sister exclaimed as she shook Hotohori's hand. "Ne, 'one-chan', aitsu no koibito ne?"

"Ba…Bakana! He's just a godbrother! My new oni-san, that's all!" Nuriko waved a fist at her, then winced when he realized moving too much was a bad idea. He settled down before asking, "Anno, how did you get here anyway? Don't tell me that old geezer sent you here to lecture me again."

"Nandayo? Can't a sister and brother worry and be happy with you…"

Tasuki chuckled along with his Rekka-Shin Apartment neighbours as he watched the antics between Nuriko and his siblings. He stole a look at Hotohori's hand that still held Nuriko's and grinned deviously when he realized Nuriko had done nothing to move it away. It looked as if it was at ease with Hotohori's touch. He gestured Chichiri who was piggy-back riding Tasuki to look at the hands. Chichiri saw it and smiled. Nuriko saw Tasuki having that weird grin and turned to him.

"What are you grinning about? How did you get Chibi Chiri in here anyway? I thought they don't allow pets."

"Omae…Technically, Chibi Chiri is still half-human," Tasuki sweatdropped and scratched his chin. "I tried telling that to the hospital staff but they would only let him in if I promised to show him around the hospital for the nurses to see. Seems like the nurses have a huge craving for man-cats but couldn't afford to buy them, so they want me to satisfy their craving by at least seeing a real life one and touch him."

"I guess having a celebrity pet does have its disadvantages now, doesn't it?" one of the Rekka-Shin resident grinned.

"Disadvantages? You mean advantages, my friend! Think of all those wonderful sexy onna-s wearing nursing uniforms surrounding you with admiration as they ogle over your pet…Ahh…Subarashii!"

"Hentai!" Nuriko yelled as he threw a pillow at Tasuki, aiming squarely at his face. Everyone laughed either nervously or humorously at Nuriko's sudden outburst. "I've been away for a while and you start thinking about other girls! Wait till I get my hands on you when I'm better…"

"Maa, maa, one-san," Hotohori said as he held him down. "Calm down. You'll hurt yourself…"

When he removed the pillow from his face, Tasuki noticed that Nuriko no longer meant any of his jealous words he aimed at him. He noticed the look in both Nuriko and Hotohori's eyes changed every time they engaged contact. It was more than just brother-sister relationship.

It was something deeper than that.

--:--

"Ne, oni-san. How do I look?"

Hotohori blushed at the sight of him, or to be more exact, her. Nuriko wore a body-fitting black dress that ran all the way to her ankles. Throughout her long process in becoming a woman, she kept her hair, never letting it come in contact with anything sharp, and it had grown almost the same length as where her dress ended. She had it tied into a long braid though, and she finally had lesser make-up than she used to when she had to hide her male features. Thanks to hormones and surgery on both her genitals and breasts, she looked more like a woman than she was before.

"Sugoi…" Hotohori almost breathed the words in wonder. "You look even more beautiful than the last time I saw you."

"He he! That's what everyone said when I showed up at the office," Nuriko said as she admired herself on the mirror. "They almost couldn't recognize me and thought I was a new staff or something. You should've seen the look on their faces when I said who I was. Even the males in the office were so stunned at my new look. Some even flirted with me on the spot. Well, at least I took care of them."

"As I expected from an ex-kick boxer. Shikatanaiwa ne…"

"Well, thanks to you, I've finally achieved my dream," Nuriko smiled with pride at first, then changed into a sad look. "Now I don't know what else to do with my life."

"Doushite? Why do you say that?" Hotohori was taken by surprise at Nuriko's sudden depressed attitude.

"All my life I've been told that my purpose in life is to follow my fate and my destiny. I've always thought since I was a kid that my destiny was to carry on the family career just like my otosan, my ojisan and my forefathers before me. I've always thought that it was my destiny to follow up what my oni-chan and my imoto-chan couldn't do. I have always believed this was my lifelong fate.

"Then when I discovered my true gender, I also believed that it was fate. Even when my parents didn't believe—couldn't, even—that this was my fate and destiny, I went along with it. I moved out and strived hard to both earn my keep and save up for this surgery. I did everything my fate and destiny had led me, and now that I've achieved it, there's nothing for me to chase after anymore. It's back to Square One where I have to live another lifelong fate of monotonous work life."

"Na…Nandateyunda? Are you saying that there's no meaning your life anymore?" Hotohori laughed nervously, shocked at what he was hearing. This wasn't the Nuriko he knew. The Nuriko he knew would never say something as depressing as that. "You can't think that! You can't put everything to fate. Even if you believe in it, I'm sure fate can give you another dream to chase after. It's not the end of the world yet!"

"There was a dream I tried to chase after my surgery and all that," Nuriko said sadly. "But he didn't bother to give a second glance. Sure, he had complimented, but that was all he did. I had expected more from him, but I guess it's just not meant to be."

"Ba…Bakayero! Is that what's all about? Tasuki just rejected you, didn't he? Kuso! I'll go teach that bastard a lesson…"

"Yamete! Don't do it, oni-san! I don't blame him! It's his choice to accept me or not! Onegai! Yameru kudasai!" Nuriko exclaimed as she grabbed hold of Hotohori's arm, stopping him before he made it to the door. Hotohori spun round and hastily freed himself from Nuriko's tight grip.

"Then why are you so sad? Why do you look like you can't let go if you know it's fate that set you two apart? Doushite? Doushite nayo?"

"Gomen…" Nuriko looked away, feeling sorry for both her oni-san and herself. "Rejection is just so hard to take when it happens to you and…"

"Do-aho!" Hotohori scolded as he slapped Nuriko squarely on the cheek, taking her by surprise. Nuriko was speechless. She had never been slapped before. Being almost beaten to a pulp in her beginner years of kickboxing, yes. Being spanked by her parents for being naughty, yes. Being hit playfully by her siblings, yes. But never slapped. This was something new. A new feeling of pain. Almost as if a pain to wake her up from a drifting dream.

"Rejection is not the end of the world for you. You're stronger than that! The world doesn't stop just because someone doesn't accept your love. You've handled numerous fights in the ring, went through countless discrimination for your choice of gender, tossed away the family that didn't appreciate or respect your decision and endured the pain of surgery. You've been through all that and yet you couldn't handle one unrequited love? I'm disappointed at you, Nuriko, I really am! It's not like you at all! If that's the case, then you might as well better not start thinking about sex change surgery at all!"

Nuriko looked down, trying to hide the tears welling up in her eyes. She knew that what Hotohori said was true. She knew all that. And it hurt. The truth hurt real bad.

"O…Oni-san…Watashi…"

Hotohori reached over and took her chin, lifting her face to face him, whispering, "Let me be more than your oni-san. Let me be your fate."

Tears flowed freely from her pinkish-black eyes, meeting Hotohori's golden ones. She knew she couldn't deny the increasingly deep feelings she had for her 'oni-san'. It was as if everything she had wished Tasuki had were all on Hotohori instead. Perhaps it could be true that Hotohori was her fate instead of Tasuki. She let out a smile as she understood the look and intention in Hotohori's eyes. Tasuki was a false dream she had lost and not worth chasing after anymore. The real dream was right there in front of her eyes and all she had to do was reach over and get him.

That's exactly what she did as she locked lips with Hotohori.

"Aishiteru, Nuri-chan…" Hotohori whispered as he held Nuriko close, never wanting to let go.

"Ai…Aishiteru…Hoto-chan…"

Looks like Tasuki and Chichiri's plan worked out well after all.

A/N: Yayy! Our Stupid Cupid has finally paired the two MFEO people together! Three cheers for Tasuki and Chichiri! Now what else is in store? Not telling! Gotta find out yourself! Reviews plz!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: So, how did you like my fanfic so far? Very good? Very bad? Those who think it's great, keep reading. Those who think it stinks, it's not too late to back away and forget about this whole thing. Sorry to sound so depressed, but I was haunted by my previous fanfic reviews that got more flames than reviews because they just friggin' don't know when to back away when they know they don't like the story…Anywho, read on!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

PUSS, PUSS

It didn't take long for the entire Rekka-Shin to find out that Nuriko and Hotohori were an item. When the tenants came to Nuriko's old home to pay the rent, they found out that she had moved down two floors to live with Hotohori. The news spread like wildfire and gossips and rumours—even teasing—could be heard among the tenants about the new couple, well, in a good way, that is. Nuriko and Hotohori didn't seem to mind the attention, as long as they had each other. They had Tasuki to thank for though, for if it weren't he and Chichiri, they wouldn't have discovered each other.

"Yokodekida, Chichiri," Tasuki toasted to Chichiri during dinner. As usual, Tasuki was the only one who could drink beer. Chichiri had to settle for milk instead. Chichiri mewed and lapped up the milk in his bowl.

"We make a great team, you and I. I didn't think we could've pulled it off. I know it seemed harsh to pretend not noticing Nuriko's change. I have to admit he…ie, _she_ is pretty beautiful after the surgery, but I had to do it in order to get them together. I still don't fancy having a transvestite for a girlfriend, if you know what I mean."

Chichiri mewed as he slurped his dinner. Tonight it was soumen bento.

"Yokatta, at least she's off my case now and I don't have to worry about being stalked or being raised rent or thrown out of the window if I offended her. I can finally carry on with my life and date in peace."

Chichiri mewed as he opened his mouth wide at Tasuki. Tasuki realized that the man-cat had already finished his bento and was asking for scraps. Tasuki sighed and offered him a few strings of soumen from his bento. He patted Chichiri's blue head and said, "Yare, yare, I know what you're trying to say. It was you who noticed Hotohori's feelings when I could not. If it weren't for you, I would've still be forced to become that she-male's koibito ne. You're the real dating hero here."

Suddenly an idea clicked in his head. He turned to his man-cat and said, "Anno…Chichiri, speaking of dating, I'm beginning to think that this might be the perfect opportunity to start our own private business here."

"Nyuu?" Chichiri looked up questioningly, not sure where his master was getting at.

"Souka! This could be our big break, Chichiri! This could be the way to earn extra bucks here! We could start a dating service! Like playing Stupid Cupid, but for a bigger scale of people! We could help out all the singles find their right mates and earn cash at the same time! With your sixth sense in telling people's feelings and my business skills, we could become rich in no time! We'll start a dating service called…err…maybe 'Koibito Seekers' or something and help out those unlucky in love! This is great! Sugoi! Kakui-ne! Why haven't I thought about it before!"

Chichiri sweatdropped looking at his master being so enthusiastic all of a sudden. But he had to admit, his master was right. His job as a construction worker wasn't much of a breadwinner anyway, and it's about time he branched out and looked for something more worthwhile. And since he was making himself useful for his master, why not? He mewed and nodded in agreement at Tasuki's proposal. Tasuki grinned from ear to ear.

"You're in with me on this? Great! Then let's get started with the business cards tomorrow! Yaruzo!"

--:--

The next day, Tasuki got busy. The first thing he did before going to work was go to a business card designer to help him design his business card for his new business. He named it 'Yume Matchmaking' and made about more than a hundred copies to be passed around among his co-workers and his neighbours of Rekka-Shin Apartment. He even gave some to Mitsukake the pet shop owner to help him pass them around among his customers. Within a week, aside from his personal dozen copies, he had given away all his cards.

No sooner he gave them away than his first customer came to his doorstep. She introduced herself as Yui who was currently a student in Tamadai University, one of the elite universities in town. She said she have had a crush on her senior ever since she enrolled into the university but couldn't get to him because he was the school idol and the university's all-rounder student.

"Ah, the classic crush-on-school-idol scenario," Tasuki rubbed his chin knowingly. He was dressed to impress for this job. Instead of his usual construction or casual clothes, he wore something that matched this business—a white T-Shirt inside a black leather jacket with black leather pants and black boots. He had a bling-bling the shape of a red heart with white wings around his neck and his hair was combed back smoothly. It was like a failed attempt of trying to imitate a modern-style Casanova, but it was the best outfit he could come up with on his tight budget.

"He's very handsome and charming and everything. Even the boys in campus are crazy about him. Every time I try to go up to him, he would always be surrounded by both love-crazed men and women. He wouldn't even think of giving me a second glance. It was as if I don't exist in his dictionary."

"Sodeska. Anno, do you have a photo of him that we can identify?"

"Here," Yui said as she took out a passport-sized photo from her wallet. "I secretly stole it from the school magazine committee when they were writing an article on his academic achievement. His name is Nakago."

Tasuki took a look at the photo and soon found out why Yui liked him so much. He was the typical blonde-haired, blue-eyed bishounen who was the envy of all men and the desire of all women. His blonde hair reached his shoulders and he had that cool, killer look and smile on his face that could melt even the coldest and hardest of hearts. Tasuki almost felt drawn by his blue eyes himself. He cleared his throat and quickly returned the picture to Yui.

"Shouldn't be such a hard case. Let me send in the artillery for you."

"Artillery?" Yui was surprised.

"The best Cupid you can find in the history," Tasuki made an OK sign and called out, "Ne, Chichiri! Chichiri, come here. We've got a customer! Hayaku!"

Chichiri appeared from behind Tasuki's sofa, mewing in reply. Tasuki picked him up and handed him over to an unaware Yui. Yui was speechless at first to be given the legendary man-cat her fellow classmates were talking about, yet she was brought back to reality by Chichiri's smiley face.

"Anno…this neko…Why are you giving him to me…?"  
"He'll be your companion and your closest tomodatchi for now. You have to bring him around during the day and return him to me at night. Rental rates apply: 100 yen per hour. You will carry him around wherever you go and he will handle the rest. Oh, and before you take him out," Tasuki reminded as he pointed at a rod-like pendant Chichiri wore around his neck, "you have press the top of this pendant. It's a mini-camera and it'll record everything he sees, hears and does throughout his services. Don't worry. Whatever is recorded in there will not leave this room. Client confidentiality ensured."

"Ah, hai. Demo…what can he…?"

"Trust me, Yui-san. He's the best Cupid you can ever find. You won't regret it."

--:--

"Nandayo? Why do I have to carry you around all day? It's not like you're allowed in campus. You're still a neko, after all."

Yui was muttering worriedly to herself as she carried Chichiri on her back. She was glad that Chichiri weight just as much as a normal cat does, but she wasn't glad that she had to carry him around everywhere. She had to beg the lecturers to keep him in class during lectures with an excuse that the owner of Chichiri was out of town and that she had no one to take care of him at home. If it weren't for her fellow classmates who backed her up just the sake of having a real-life man-cat in class, Yui would've ended up being thrown out and not come back to campus until the master takes Chichiri back.

"Yah! Nakago-san!"

Yui's breath hitched as she heard the name of the person she yearned being yelled out. Just at the entrance of the university, there stood her dream prince Nakago surrounded, as usual, by men and women alike. They were all trying to curry his favour (probably even try to get into his pants) and sweet talk him into making him like them or even notice them. Yui felt left out in the background again as she watched the Nakago fans moving around him like ants around sugar. There was no way she could get close to him. She tried ever since she first saw him during orientation week when he played the school rep in welcoming the first years to their university life. She tried at every chance she got, but she never succeeded. Not once. It was a depressing thought, but probably something unachievable nonetheless. It was satisfying for her now to just be able to watch him from afar.

Suddenly Chichiri wriggled out of Yui's hold and jumped off her back. He scrambled all the way towards the crowd, squeezed right through the surprised Nakago fans and leapt straight into Nakago's arms, hugging his neck in a dead lock. Many protested and tried to pry him off Nakago but the man-cat stayed stuck there, refusing to let go. Yui was dumbstruck as she stood there, not moving an inch. What the hell was that man-cat doing?

"Anno, whose man-cat is this?" Nakago looked around as he propped Chichiri in his arms. "Please come over and get it. He's making me unable to breathe."

Chichiri turned towards Yui's direction and smiled. Yui scowled; that man-cat did it on purpose! But he didn't seem to want to leave unless she came over. She had no choice but to go. With her face blushing like mad, she walked up without daring to look at Nakago's face and said, "A…Anno…Bokudesu…He's my man-cat…"

"Well, would you mind taking him off me?" Nakago asked, smiling slightly.

"Ah…hai," Yui said as she reached over to pull Chichiri's shirt, trying to pry him off Nakago. "Hanase yo, Chichiri-chan. Hanase!"

Chichiri mewed in protest, still not wanting to let go. Those surrounding them were looking at Yui and Chichiri like they were going to tear off their throats for being so close to their idol. After almost ten minutes of prying, Chichiri still held on.

"Anno, gomenasai, Nakago senpai," Yui apologized profusely. "I don't know what's gotten into him. I'm actually…err…taking care of him for a friend. He's just acting so weird all of a sudden and…"

"Ahh, shikatanaiwa…" Nakago let out a sigh of defeat. "Neko-s usually feel territorial when they get used to one spot where they used to live. I guess I have that distinctive smell. Makes me feel like I haven't showered in days or something. Ne, if we were to bring him home to where he used to hang, would it make him let me go?"

"I…I guess…" Yui replied, blushing like mad. She never got so close to him before, let alone talk to him. This was the first time she actually spoke more than a word to him face to face.

"Then it's settled. I'll walk with you home and see if he lets go once he sees your home."

"Nani!" one of the Nakago fans exclaimed. "But…But what about tonight's student council meeting?"

"It's not like I'm gonna be gone forever. I'll be here as soon as I send her home. Ikimashio, Yui-san."

"You…You know my name?" Yui was taken aback. Nakago flashed his legendary killer smile.

"Who would forget the name of the most famous debater of Tamadai University?"

Yui felt like she'd be happy to die right here, right now. She never thought Nakago had known her existence. She thought she was as transparent as a brick wall, but it seemed that she had thought wrong. Throughout their journey home, they chitchatted and got to know each other a little better. She soon found out about a lot of things she never thought she knew from Nakago. He really was the all-rounder of the campus, yet at the same time he enjoyed a lot of other 'normal' things she would never thought associated with an all-rounder. Honestly speaking, she had expected him to be sort of a nerd.

"I heard that you're going to be entering the upcoming State Debate next week," Nakago commented as he still tried in vain to pry Chichiri off him.

"How…How did you know?" Yui asked, surprised at almost how well Nakago knew her moves in campus.

"I'm the President of the Student Council, I'm supposed to know," Nakago chuckled at Yui's funny expression. "So, am I right or am I mistaken?"

"Ie. You heard right. I'm going along with other fellow classmates to debate at the Tokyo Municipal Hall. That's where all the debaters of every university will be there to fight for the state champion title. But then, of course, you know that."

"Hai, but I like to hear it from you."

Yui felt as if she was going to melt with blissfulness at the compliment.

"I'll be going too."

"A-re?"

"The Presidents of each university's Student Council is needed to escort the reps of their campus to the Municipal Hall for the competition. So that means I'm going too. Guess I'll be able to watch you firsthand in the debating presentation."

"Ho…Honto-ni?" Yui could hardly believe her luck.

"Hai," Nakago nodded, smiling again. When he felt Chichiri's grip loosen and his sudden jump from him into Yui's arms, he looked up and said, "Looks like we're at your home. I was right; I did smell like your home to him."

"Ah ha ha…Sodesune…" Yui sweatdropped as she saw her terrace home just ahead, with Chichiri nuzzling at her face and purring affectionately.

"What time is your class tomorrow?" Nakago asked.

"Err, I have one class at 9.00 a.m. and another at 2.30 p.m. Doushite, Nakago senpai?"

"Betsuni," Nakago looked away at first, then stole a look at his watch and said, "Oh, I gotta go. My meeting starts an hour later. I'll come pick you up tomorrow morning, OK? Sayonara, Yui-san."

As she watched Nakago disappear out of sight, she was torn between wanting to slap Chichiri silly for making such an embarrassing act like that in front of her dream prince or kiss and hug him for bringing the gap between her and Nakago closer.

A/N: Kiss him! Kiss him! He's your dating hero! What would happen next? You'll have to carry on reading while I work on my next chappie. Reviews plz!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Yohoo, minna-san! How's your day going? Good? Good enough to enjoy a good ol' fanfic? OK, iku yo!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

PUSS, PUSS

The Tokyo Municipal Hall was jammed-pack with people young and old. They were all there to watch the greatest educational battle between campuses of the century: the All-State's Debate Championship Tournament. Spectators and contestants from almost more than a dozen campuses around the state of Japan came to both witness and participate in this glorious event. The Municipal Hall was practically packed with people from families to friends to lecturers of participants of every campus.

Tamadai University was also one of the campuses participating in this event. The campus reps, including Yui, were led by their Student Council President Nakago to the backstage to get ready. Again, Yui brought Chichiri along as part of the service deal. She could feel all eyes on her, not only from the opposing teams, but also from her own teammates. She couldn't blame them though. She would've reacted the same way as they did if she found out her dream prince had personally belonged to someone.

Not that she was saying that Nakago belonged to her. Ever since that fateful day when Chichiri pulled off his stunt at campus, Nakago had slowly opened up to her. He would ask for Yui's class schedule and pick her up in his motorcycle at the designated time, even though he knew she lived off-campus just a walking distance away from the university grounds. She had persuaded him to not treat her so nice as it might arouse the campus fans' wrath, but he didn't seem to care. She had her share of being intimidated, harassed and bullied by them with either words, graffiti on her locker, dead animals in her bag or even violence, but after Nakago, as President of Student Council, issued the Anti-Ragging Act, no one dared to touch her, though she still got unfriendly glares from time to time.

"Alright, minna-san. We're all settled here," Nakago turned towards his fellow reps. "You can all prepare yourselves right here. You'll be the fourth one to present. I'll be sitting at the seats that are designated for us. Once you're done debating, please move towards where I'm seated. I hope you can find me though in that thick mob. I didn't expect this big a crowd today."

"Don't worry, Nakago senpai," Soi, one of Yui's teammates, said flirtingly.

Nakago smiled good-naturedly, then moved near Yui and took custody of Chichiri, whispering, "Ganbatte, Yui-san."

"Ha…Hai," Yui replied nerously before watching Nakago leave to take his seat. She was immediately approached by her teammates Soi and Tomo.

"You're lucky you have Nakago senpai's act to protect you, or you'd be even worse off as it is. You would've been forced to bail out of this competition altogether," Soi said venomously.

"By the way, how did you do it, huh?" Tomo chided in. "Blackmail? Sex? Black magic? Voodoo? Or just a mixture of everything in between?"

"Ie…Anno…" Yui was rendered speechless. Those were the same questions asked by other Nakago fans before Nakago issued the act. She was saved from interrogation by the call of the MC to get ready on line for the draw of topics they need to debate. Yui's group got the topic on the existence of the supernatural and they were the opposing team, so they had to put their differences aside for the time being and discuss on what to debate during the competition.

The event took almost the entire day. Topics upon topics had been discussed and slowly, more and more campuses have been eliminated. In the end, the remaining campuses were Tamadai University and Hanabiri Sekai University. They were debating on the topic of possibilities of life outside the solar system and turned out to be a rather heated discussion. It seemed as if most of the topics were rather controversial and out of this world, let alone being educational. Perhaps they were trying to do something outside the box than the usual 'Advertisement is bad for youngsters' kind of debates. Nevertheless, Yui couldn't have been able to pull it off if she hadn't had Nakago in sight, watching her with Chichiri on his lap and giving her encouraging looks.

Luck was not on Tamadai University's side though. The state champion title went to the opposing team from Hanabiri Sekai University and they could only settle for 1st runner up. Soi burst into tears because she felt as if she had let down Nakago instead of the campus. It took him almost about half an hour to assure her that it wasn't her fault and another half an hour to quickly slink away from the crowd with Yui to the most inconspicuous place they could find.

"Phew! Yokatta," Nakago sighed in relief as he checked if the coast was clear. "Ikiteru ne. Being famous does have its drawbacks."

"Too bad we didn't win though," Yui said as she took Chichiri from his hands. "I thought we put up a real good fight or something."

"You did put up a good fight. Lady Luck is just not too keen on leaning on our side, that's all."

"Sodeska," Yui nodded in agreement. "So, uh, now that the show's over, what are you gonna do? We're pretty much free to go home on our own now."

"I was thinking about taking you out for a late dinner. Yokodekida, Yui-san. You deserve it."

"Ho…Honto ni? Anno…don't you think the others would want to be fed too…?"

"I want to have dinner with you only. Why do you think I pry myself away from those girls?"

Yui almost fainted at those words that came out of Nakago's mouth. Nakago wanting to hang out with her only and not others? This was like a dream come true. In fact, it seemed almost too good to be true. Yui felt like crying over all this, but instead she lowered her head and asked, "Doushite? Why do you keep treating me so nice? I'm not the only girl in the world."

"Why do you keep asking me the same question? Isn't it obvious to you already?"

"I just don't want to get you in trouble with the fans…"

"Like you did? You have the act, right? Why are you so worried about?"

"I just…" Yui couldn't control her tears anymore. "I just don't think I deserve it. I'm just a nobody…"

"You were a somebody as soon as you made yourself known to me as our campus's best debater. You were a somebody to me as soon as I knew you existed. You're more than a somebody. You're my koibito."

Yui looked up sharply, unable to believe her ears. Nakago made another one of his killer smiles and took Yui in his arms, holding her close to his chest. She could feel the slow beating of his heart and blushed, her tears and Chichiri—who had slunk out of her arms in time before becoming a neko sandwich—no longer an issue.

"I know it's a bit sudden and that maybe I should've said it earlier when I had the chance," Yui heard Nakago's deep voice rumble at his chest. "But I was scared like you, I could tell, and I was too self-conscious back then, what with my popularity and all, so I'm asking you now. Will you…will you be my koibito?"

Yui went all weak as she tried to gain support by hugging Nakago back. Those were the exact words _she_ had longed to ask Nakago, but she didn't expect it to be the other way round. She buried her face in Nakago's chest and nodded.

"You accept my proposal?"

Another nod.

"I'd like to hear it from you."

"Hai…I accept…"

"So are we still in for dinner?"

"Hai!"

This time Yui was laughing.

--:--

Yui and Nakago soon became an official couple. There were dozens of protests and threats from Nakago's fans about their union but seeing he had made up his mind, they had no choice but to back away. Yui wanted to return Chichiri and pay the rent, but Chichiri had a feeling that he wasn't done yet. He wanted to make sure that Yui made the right choice in picking Nakago as her koibito, so Tasuki decided to let her have him for a few more days at a discounted rate.

One day, as Yui and Nakago went out on their date, Chichiri suddenly ran off, disappearing to goodness knws where. They spent almost an hour or searching before finding him sitting in front of a rather fancy gate. Inside, there was a middle-aged couple arguing with each other at the front door, making a scene. Nakago stopped at his tracks, not daring to go any closer. Yui was surprised.

"Nandeska, Nakago?"

"Let's just get the neko and leave," Nakago said with an uneasy look on his face.

"Doushite? You know those people?"

"Let's just say…it's not the best time to be confronting them. Let's just take Chichiri and go. Hayaku."

As they both moved closer to the gate to pick Chichiri up, they could hear the couple arguing about alumni, trying to bargain—more like yelling—their way through it. Two half-dressed men came up to the front door to see what the ruckus was about, annoying the arguing man with their presence. The woman had a smug look on her face as she folded her arms across her chest, her breasts almost protruding out of her lingerie. She looked sideways and saw Nakago picking Chichiri up in his arms and barked, "What are you doing here, you lousy good-for-nothing?"

"Okasan…" Nakago muttered grudgingly. Yui was surprised. That sexy middle-aged woman was Nakago's mother? Then who's that man arguing with her? Who were the other two men inside the house?

"Don't you 'okasan' me, you bakayero!" his mother snapped at him, glaring at him with a vengeance. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be arguing with your _otosan_ here about our life support money!"

"You mean _your_ life support money," Nakago replied. "I have no part in this."

"Oh yes, you do! Who do you think pays your school fees and expenses living outside if it weren't for me, huh?"

"That would be me."

"Don't get smart with me, boy! If you…"

"Iku yo, Yui," Nakago said as he took Yui's shoulder and turned their backs on the people at the house. Before they were earshot away, they could hear Nakago's father sneering.

"Both slutty and knee-high with lovers. He certainly didn't get that from me."

Nakago took Yui as far away from the house as possible, leaving the couple to argue among themselves. They walked all the way to a recreational park and sat on a nearby bench slightly apart from each other, the atmosphere rather awkward. Nakago released Chichiri and let him go play at the park fountain. The silence between them felt rather uncomfortable and so thick you could cut it with a knife. No one knew who should start or how they should start first. Yui glanced at Chichiri chasing after a butterfly and sighed quietly.

"Gomenasai…" Nakago suddenly voiced out.

"When were you going to tell me about them?" Yui asked sadly. She couldn't blame him for not telling her about his estranged family, not after seeing them like this in person, but she thought she should've at least be warned about them.

"Soon. But not that soon. They're not the world's greatest okasan and otosan in the world, you know."

"It's about time you tell me about your life's history though."

"True. I owe you that much," Nakago said. He took a deep breath and sat back, ready to begin his story, "As you can see, my okasan works as a hooker in one of those red district areas and my otosan is just some simple manager at a fast food restaurant. They were young back then, and when she found out she had me, my otosan was obliged to marry her and take care of me. I'm not even sure if I really _am_ his son because I don't exactly look very much like him, but he loved me, so I couldn't complain.

"My otosan's idea of marriage is the usual 'live life together forever', but my okasan isn't ready to give up her rambunctious night lifestyle. Otosan tried to compromise at first, but in the end, he couldn't stand sharing her with other men, so he divorced her and left me with her. I had to watch every night as she brings home different kinds of men and hear those terribly distasteful sounds they make in the bedroom. Okasan accidentally got pregnant by one of her clients but she didn't want to go through the pain of childbirth again, so she aborted my would-be brother or sister. I was angry at her for that because I felt so alone and needed a sibling that would keep me company. We lived off fairly from otosan's life support money, but it could only hold us up for so long.

"I had to take up tons of odd jobs since I was in elementary school to make ends meet, since okasan slept through the day and partied through the night. I worked real hard to excel myself both academically and physically because I didn't want to end up like my neglecting otosan and my slutty okasan. No one knew about my past or my true family background. Everything they see in me was perfect. I had a lot of fans but not much friends. I never told them much about myself and I never allowed anyone to visit my home for fear of them to find out I'm not so perfect after all. I was afraid that I would lose my reputation and the attention I've worked so hard for. There were many times I wanted to reveal myself and not pretend anymore, but fear held me back. It tortures me to be someone outside in public and someone else back home. When I got the offer letter to study in Tamadai University, I took the chance and moved out immediately. I was able to release myself a little and live the life I wanted because I know I don't have to go back to that house anymore. The scholarship was enough to cover my fees and the money I earned from my odd jobs managed to keep me well-fed and surviving.

"So you see why I never mentioned anything about my family? You see now why I never take you to my home? Now that you know everything about me, I'm sure you'd leave me…"

"Do…Doushite? Why do you say that?" Yui asked, surprised.

"Because…Because I'm an itsuwari, a fake," Nakago replied, tears welling up in his eyes for the first time since he dated her. "Because I'm born from a hooker and an otosan whom I'm not sure is my biological otosan or not. Because I…"

Yui reached over and hugged him tight, hushing him and calming him down. She never thought that Nakago would have such a heavy burden on his shoulders. She had to admit, she was just like everyone else, thinking that he was the perfect bishounen, but as she dated him and got to know him better, she found out that Nakago was more than just a pretty boy. He was a man with a heart of gold and a mind far more mature than any other guys she had ever known. He was being himself, and that was all that mattered to her. His past can just piss off and disappear. What mattered most was now, and that she was with him, for better or for worse.

"Don't worry, Nakago. I won't leave you. You've been honest to me, and that's what counts," Yui whispered, then took his face to face hers and said, "I'm fine with itsuwari, just as long as you don't lie about it. I don't care about your past, Nakago. I love you for you, and nothing else."

"Yu…Yui…" Nakago was at lost of words, surprised to find out that what he thought was wrong.

"Aishiteru, Nakago."

"Aishiteru…"

When Nakago and Yui locked lips together, Chichiri knew that his work was finally complete, and that Tasuki is going to soon receive a big fat cheque for his account.

A/N: That was a really good ending now, don't you think? Let's move on to the next chappie. But first, can anyone tell what is Miaka's brother's name? I need it for my next chappie! Arigatogozaimas!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hey there, minna-san! How did you like the previous chapter? Good or bad? Well, it depends on your thinking. Now let's carry on with the next customer! About Miaka's brother's name, thanks for the help. I really appreciate it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

PUSS, PUSS

Tasuki heard Chichiri mewing and scratching at the bathroom door while he was doing his business. He hastily put down the newspaper he was reading and yelled, "Nandayo, Chichiri? Can't you piss at the sandbox I got you?"

Chichiri's mewing and scratching persisted. Tasuki grumbled and finished his business as quickly as possible. He flushed and barged out of the bathroom, glaring at Chichiri who was staring back at him innocently and shouting, "Kuso! What is the matter with you, you baka neko? Can't I get a moment of privacy around…"

"Konichiwa!" a voice came from the other side of the front door. A man's voice. "Is this the residence of Tasuki, the manager of Yume Matchmaking?"

"Ah? Ha…Hait!" Tasuki replied back, hurriedly putting on his pants. He gave Chichiri an accusing look, "Why didn't you tell me there's a customer?"

Chichiri pouted, giving him a That's-what-I've-been-trying-to-tell-you look. Tasuki rolled his eyes and went over to answer the door, putting on an award-winning smile. The man was about an inch taller than him and had bluish-black hair and deep set eyes. Quite handsome-looking, and practically a jaw-dropper for most girls, but he's nowhere more handsome than his previous client, Yui's boyfriend Nakago. Tasuki let him in and invited him to take a seat. Chichiri, as he was trained to, prepared the tea for both him and the client. He may be part cat, but he is also part human, and human movements and tasks like walking upright and holding objects were no stranger to him, only that he didn't really want to use it that often because of his cat nature as a majority. Tasuki brought out the tea and sat down in front of him, offering him the tea and asking, "Doshimasta? What's your story?"

The man then introduced himself by the name Tamahome who worked at a local restaurant nearby Seiryu University, one of the many main fine universities in the region. He had fallen in love with one of his best friends' sister from that college named Miaka Yuki since she first started studying there and became a customer at his restaurant. He showed Tasuki a picture of her with her girlfriend and Tasuki had to admit that she was a looker. With her dark brown hair tied in two buns and sideburns, together with her brown eyes and her small girl-next-door stature, she was definitely an eye-catcher for anyone interested. The more surprising thing is that this Miaka Yuki was actually a friend of Yui Hongo, the friend in the picture with her who was his previous client!

"They were childhood best friends back then, but Yui was a more gifted student than her, which is why they're not studying in the same university," Tamahome explained. "Miaka had been my regular customer since then and always ordered large portions of her favourite food. So regular was she that I knew almost all the time what she wants and how much she wants it. And, anno…I guess you've heard it a number of times in your line of work but…I really love her and I want to make her mine…"

"Say no more, my friend," Tasuki held up his hand and gestured Chichiri to come closer. He picked him up and dropped him onto Tamahome's lap and said, "Here you go. Carry him around, press the pendant button every time I assign him to you and he'll do all the rest. Rental rates apply. Remember to feed him regularly and return him to me by the end of the day!"

--:--

Chichiri sat quietly on the counter, watching the comings and goings of customers in and out of the Suzaku Restaurant, ordering their usual food. He watched as Tamahome went back and forth from the counter to the kitchen to the customers' seats and back again. Being a waiter sure was a tough job, what with the walking around. Chichiri wanted to help but he reminded himself that he was on a mission, and nothing else. Occasionally though, Tamahome stole a glance at the smiley face of Chichiri, doubtful and unsure about Chichiri's credibility in helping him with his love life. He had to convince his boss to keep Chichiri, giving him the same excuse Yui did. Secretly, he wondered why Tasuki send a neko to do a man's job.

"Ohayo, Sou Kishiku-kun!"

Both Chichiri and Tamahome turned towards the voice that came from the entrance of the restaurant. There, accompanied by three more girls, was the girl in the picture that was shown by Tamahome yesterday: the one and only Miaka Yuki. She was wearing a light-blue dress and a sun hat to protect herself from the scorching summer light, with white sandals to match. She wasn't tying her hair into buns like the picture though, but into two braids that hung lazily on her shoulders. With her cheerful smile and laughter among the girls, it was as if she had brought summer into the entire restaurant.

"Ah, ikarimasen," Tamahome greeted her, his face blushing like a fresh tomato. Miaka walked straight towards the counter and sat right in front of him.

"Anno, Sou Kishiku-kun, the usual, please!"

"Which usual?" Tamahome asked, holding his ordering notebook and pen. "You have almost more than 10 usuals in this restaurant, you know."

"Ah, hai, hai, gomen! Err, the special one. The one that has fish fillet, French fries, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. Oh, and hot chocolate please! Extra large!"

"Hai, Yuki-san. One double portion of Suzaku special and a hot chocolate. Got it," Tamahome wrote down the order, then gave Miaka a weak smile and said, "And, please, I thought I told you to call me Tamahome. You've been my regular customer for so long now."

"I'd call you that if you stop calling me Yuki-san," Miaka smiled back cutely, sending Tamahome's heart racing. He didn't agree immediately, but went off to give the order to the chef and bring in the food for the other customers. Miaka didn't seem to notice his reaction much though. She continued to chitchat with her friends as Tamahome went about with his business. When her order arrived, she attacked it straight away, eating with great gusto. Within minutes, she finished her food and was asking for seconds, with her friends sweatdropping beside her. Even Chichiri watched in surprise at Miaka's monstrous appetite. Tamahome humoured her and did whatever she asked, and after four servings later, she paid for her food and thanked him before leaving the restaurant. Chichiri turned to Tamahome, giving him a 'What do you see in her?' look. Tamahome gave him a bashful grin.

"Not the most graceful of women now, is she? Well, I guess that's exactly what I love about her. She doesn't pretend to be someone she's not. She's just so original and wouldn't settle for anything else fake. She's got a heart of gold that no one could ever counter. I suppose you're wondering why she called me Sou Kishiku instead of Tamahome, eh? Sou Kishiku is my real name. Tamahome is more of a necessary name carried down by my father's side of the Chinese ancestral background, which means 'Ogre Zodiac'. The main reason why I like her wasn't because of her looks, it was because of her heart of gold. Her brother Keisuke—my best friend—was taking me for a drink when I met her. She was just across the street and saw us, and when she was about to greet us, she saw a dog in the middle of the busy road with nonstop incoming cars from every direction. Poor dog didn't know where to run and where to hide. Everywhere was a landmine for it.

"All of a sudden, Miaka just ran out into the busy road regardless of the traffic and reached out to save the dog. She almost got hit by a four-by-four and a huge cement truck just to get that mutt off the road. She got a sound scolding from her brother for her recklessness but she didn't care. She said as long as the dog was alright, nothing else mattered. That's when I knew I've found the person I wish to live the rest of my life with. It was pretty much just like that, a snap of the finger and I was hooked on her. Her brother introduced her to me and it was that day when she told him that she had just been accepted to the Seiryu University. I knew then that I'd be seeing her a lot often because their university is just two blocks away from here. I got my wish to see her almost everyday, but never got the wish to have her heart. I guess it's true that the way to the heart is to the stomach only applies for men, doesn't it?"

Chichiri mewed as Tamahome continued to have that faraway look in his eyes as he stared at the door, although he knew Miaka had been long gone. Only when the chef rang the bell signifying his completed dish that Tamahome came back to his senses and carried on with his work.

Chichiri knew then what he had to do.

--:--

Another busy day in Suzaku Restaurant. This time, Tamahome didn't bother to look out for Chichiri. Either it's because of the slight trust he had towards him or it's because every seat in the restaurant was filled with customers for that weekend, it wasn't a clear thing. One thing's for sure; that Chichiri was left alone to fend for himself.

"Ne, Koji-san! Remember to send this Suzaku special to Byakko Lawyers' Inc.," Tamahome called out as he put the catered food on the counter, then turned to Chichiri with a warning look in his eyes and said, "Don't you dare eat it while I'm not looking!"

Chichiri gave him an innocent smile before turning around in search of Koji the cater boy who was supposed to bring out the order. The blue-haired gangster-looking young man seemed to prefer hitting on high school girls in uniform than making his paycheck worthwhile. Chichiri stole a glance at the plastic bag containing the order and soon had an idea of what to do with it. He may not be allowed to eat it, but he definitely was not disallowed from other things.

As soon as Tamahome walked away from the counter to take orders from customers, Chichiri grabbed the plastic bag in his mouth and raced out of the restaurant in a flash, faster than you can say "You stole my food!". Following Tamahome's description of where Seiryu University was, he quickly wove in, out and around startled passers-by and surprised shopkeepers. He jumped off rooftops and climbed through lampposts and other high structures and landed on his feet gracefully like all cats do. After two blocks, he finally reached the infamous Seiryu University Tamahome had been talking about. It was as big as any regular university, with a tall, greenish statue of a dragon in the middle of the domain, with the words 'Seiryu University' engraved on a plate possibly made of white gold.

Chichiri was in luck. He had just come across the ringing of the bell signifying the end of class. Everyone was walking out of the building chitchatting about their day in class. He looked and sniffed around, trying to get the scent of Miaka he had memorized back at the restaurant. Many people, mostly women, saw him with the plastic bag in his mouth and recognized him immediately as the ever fabled man-cat in the market. They started to gather around him and fuss about him like some groupie over a rock star or something and began to smother him with numerous scents, making him unable to figure out which is which. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pry himself away from them.

"Nandeska? What's with the commotion here?"

Just when he thought things were going to get worse, it served him for the better. The crowd seemed to draw attention to more people, one of them being Miaka Yuki, the girl he had been looking for. She was in a white body-fit dress with her usual buns on both sides of her head. She was accompanied by two other guys—one who had a lighter version of her hair colour with a slight resemblance of her in a black T-Shirt and white jeans, and the other who was slightly shorter than the former, had black hair and was wearing rather trendy clothes and shoes and a pair of sunglasses. Chichiri had to assume that the guy who resembled a little of Miaka was her brother Keisuke.

"Eh? That's the man-cat I saw in the restaurant yesterday. The one Sou Kishiku-san said he help baby-sit for a friend," Miaka exclaimed as she pushed through the crowd to see what the girls were fussing over. Chichiri's hair was ruffled into a total mop of mess, his clothes horrendously pulled and tugged into untidy conditions and even his wear-proof socks Tasuki both for him to move around easily without shoes were torn because of the manhandling. The guy with sunglasses reached over and picked him up, a surprise look on his face judging by his raised eyebrows.

"Nani? Ne, Keisuke. He's so light. I'd expect him to be heavier than this," the sunglasses guy said, turning towards the light-brown hair guy. It seemed like Chichiri was right to assume that he was Keisuke, Miaka's brother.

Chichiri had no time to lose. He let out a muffled mew and struggled to reach over to Miaka, stretching his neck towards her with the plastic bag in his mouth. Keisuke noticed and took the bag.

"Ne, Miaka, I think he wants to give you this," Keisuke said as he handed the bag to her. "Isn't this the logo of Tamahome's restaurant?"

Miaka took the bag and opened it. Inside was one of her usual favourites: the Suzaku special. It wasn't the usual portion she often ordered, but it was still the one she liked. Keisuke and the sunglasses guy had to each give her a warning look before she started devouring the entire thing on the spot, just in case there was something inside that food that wasn't supposed to be there. Such is her monstrous appetite.

"Who gave this to you, kitty? Ne, who told you to send this to Miaka?" Keisuke asked in vain. Not that Chichiri could answer him in human words anyway. He turned around and saw that Miaka had stole a taste without his knowledge and exclaimed in horror, "Miaka! What have I told you about eating food from strangers!"

"It doesn't taste like it's being drugged or anything. Honestly, it tastes just as the same as what Suzaku Restaurant cooks. Here, oni-chan, Tetsuya-san, if you don't believe me," Miaka said nonchalantly as she took another taste. So far, so good. Nothing bad happened.

"Trust Miaka to taste things to confirm something," the sunglasses guy by the name Tetsuya shook his head and sighed, smiling weakly. Keisuke sighed too in tiredness. He seriously wondered if Miaka was his real sister at all. Tetsuya took a taste and said, "Well, no foul play here. If I say so myself, I think a secret admirer ordered this for Miaka, or else no one would've known specifically what she liked to eat from Suzaku Restaurant."

"Secret admirer, huh? More like stalker, I might say," Keisuke sweatdropped.

Miaka only stared at the food in wonder while absentmindedly patting Chichiri's head.

--:--

Since that fateful day, it was routine for Chichiri to steal off other people's orders to carry it to Miaka at campus. Sometimes it would be the Suzaku special, the Noodle Supreme, the Breakfast Surprise or even the Cheese Galore; all of them Miaka's favourite. Chichiri became a regular guest in the Seiryu University and was soon known as the Catering Cupid as he came everyday to cater for Miaka from her so-called 'secret admirer'. Because of Chichiri's constant catering, Miaka seldom went over to the restaurant to have her meals anymore, which rather devastated Tamahome whose hired services depended on awaiting her arrival. The disappearance of food remained a mystery to the crew of Suzaku Restaurant and no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn't put a finger on Chichiri who was the real thief behind all this. It began to threaten Koji's job and the cater boy started to take his job more seriously, but Chichiri managed every time to at least grab an order for Miaka.

About two weeks later to the day, Chichiri soon noticed that Miaka was beginning to break, in a good way, that is. She often awaited him at the dragon statue for the food and whenever he approached, she would blush and take the food with a blissful look on her face, and that bliss was not just because she got to eat. Chichiri would sometimes stay behind and watch her eat and he would listen to her talk about who the secret admirer be or why go through all the trouble just to get her attention or what her dream prince should be or about the saying 'The way to the heart is through the stomach' truly applied to both men and women. Chichiri knew that it was high time she and Tamahome got face to face with the real deal.

--:--

"You want me to write a love letter?"

Chichiri nodded, an envelope with a heart-shaped sticker on it. Tasuki and Chichiri had reviewed the video from the mini-camera on his pendant and were figuring out what to do to pull the string between Tamahome and Miaka together when Chichiri suddenly disappeared and came with the envelope. Tasuki knew what that meant: a love letter was in order; it's just a matter of what kind.

"Like what? A date letter?" Tasuki asked, answered by a shake of the head. "Or a confession letter?"

Chichiri nodded. Tasuki started writing as good a confession letter as possible, picturing himself in Tamahome's shoes. As he wrote, he said, "Anno, Chichiri, you really make a good Cupid, you know that? I didn't have to even break a sweat. I just need to rent you out and the cash just keep rolling in. You're an angel, Chichiri. A neko, but an angel nonetheless. I owe you big time, my friend. Really big time. This is the least I can do to help make your job easier."

With the envelope still in his mouth, Chichiri purred and rubbed his head on Tasuki's shoulder affectionately.

--:--

"Nani?"

Chichiri had a catering as usual, but with something extra: an envelope with a letter in it. Today's food was fish and chips, but Miaka didn't start on the food first. She took the envelope from Chichiri and opened it. The letter was written on scented paper and was pink. She sat down and read what it had to say:

_Dear Miaka Yuki,_

_I'm sure by now, this is almost the 3rd week that I have assigned my man-cat to cater for you.i know it's not exactly enough to fit your appetite, but it is the least I could do to express myself._

_As you might guess, I'm your secret admiere. I have been having this crush on you since th first day I met you. The day you risked your life to save that little dog off the traffic road was the day you took my breath and heart away. There is nothing else that can compare to your heart of gold. You may not be perfectly beautiful and I know you may think that there are other fishes in the sea far better than you, but I rather choose you. If I were to die and relive this whole life again, I wouldn't change a thing. I'd rather have you than a lifetime supply of wealth and happiness because a life with you is a happier, richer life._

_I know just by words is not enough to express myself. Look for me at Suzaku Restaurant. I'll be waiting for you. Aishiteru-ne…_

_Yours sincerely,_

_Sou Kishiku Tamahome_

"Heh? It's…It's Sou Kishiku-kun all along?" Miaka exclaimed in surprise. She turned to Chichiri and looked at him questioningly, wondering if this were true. Seeing Chichiri's nod, she took another look at the letter and whispered, "Funny. I actually feel relieved that it was him. I guess…I guess I've always known. I just didn't bother to accept it."

She quickly finished her food and asked Chichiri to accompany her to Suzaku Restaurant. Chichiri readily agreed with a mew and a nod. With the man-cat in her arms, she made a run for it all the way to the restaurant. By the time Tamahome took a breather after long hours of work and actually realized Chichiri was missing, Miaka had already barged in with him.

"Ah? Yuki-san? Chichiri-chan? W…What will you order…" Tamahome was in the verge of stammering when Miaka suddenly dropped Chichiri and approached the counter.

"I'm not here to eat…well, not yet. I'm here to ask something serious. Did you or did you not cater me for the last two weeks?"

"Na…Nani?" Tamahome was caught offguard. All the staff looked at him almost immediately with accusing looks on their faces.

"So you're the one behind the missing cater food!" Koji exclaimed, pointing at him angrily. "I should've known it was you! You're trying to get me fired or something?"

"And for a girl for that matter!" a waitress scolded. "Don't you think it's better to just make up an excuse and ask the cook to make one for you instead of stealing other people's orders?"

"That's gonna cost you your salary," the cook, who was also the restaurant owner, popped his head out of the kitchen and warned in a dark tone.

"Nandayo? I didn't…!" Tamahome protested at the accusations thrown at him in such full force, but Miaka waved everyone's argument away exasperatedly.

"Na, na, chottodo mitaiyo! Never mind who really took the catering for me. It's still came from the same source anyway. I just wanna know, and you gotta tell me honestly. Are you really secretly admiring me?"

Tamahome blushed redder than the reddest tomato you could ever find. He glared accusingly at the innocent-looking Chichiri, blaming him for all this happenings. He was about to scold him for embarrassing him and making him a fool when he noticed Chichiri's raised eyebrows. Then he realized that this was it. This was his chance. This was what Chichiri was hired to do. It may seem a little unorthodox, but it was still his job and he did it. If he were to blow this chance and not play along with it, he would not only waste his money he paid for hiring Chichiri, but also the love of his life. It's now or never.

"Ha…Hai…I…I am your secret admirer…" Tamahomr replied, his eyes couldn't look any lower.

"Yokatta…" Miaka smiled in relief and wrapped her arms around him. Needless to say, kisses between them and cheers and claps from both the staff and customers of the restaurant ensued.

Chichiri smiled widely. Big, fat cheque ahead!

A/N: He he, things in the business kinda look promising in the future, don't you think? Sorry I had to use the enemy name as Miaka's school and the Suzaku name for the restaurant. I couldn't think of anything else! Well, it pretty much adds up with the name Rekka-Shin for Nuriko's apartment now, doesn't it? He he! Carry on following up with my fic! Reviews plz!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: So, how do you like the fanfic so far? Pretty good, eh? Remember that third chapter where I've introduced every single tenant in Rekka-Shin Apartment? In this chapter, you'll see all of them being put to use on Tasuki and Chichiri's Yume Matchmaking business. If you don't remember any of the characters mentioned down here, please feel free to refer back to Chapter 3. Now let's not waste anymore time and carry on with the rest of the story! Yaparri!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

PUSS, PUSS

Since that day, business was practically booming. Many asked Tasuki and Chichiri for help in their love life. Tasuki even extended his services to mend broken friendships and strengthening family ties and any other kind of relationships. He eventually quit his job as a construction worker and ran this koibito business full time. There were so many customers at one time that they had to get in line and do advance booking for Chichiri's services.

Chichiri's services also helped out the residents of Rekka-Shin Apartment as well. He managed to help the college dropout living in the ground floor to get a job as an office boy in Hotohori's company by pretending to tease him, which led him to chase the man-cat in anger and brought him to meet Hotohori when Chichiri ran to Hotohori's floor for cover. For the bastard siblings Shou and Makura in the first floor, he had been hearing the lonely woes of Makura and decided to pair Shou up with his classmate who just so happen to be the daughter of one of the CEO-s of Hotohori's company, and after the CEO heard much about the misfortune of Shou and Makura from his daughter, he decided to engage her and Shou together and convince the brothers to move in to his multi-millionaire home. Needless to say, the brothers lived off much better with parental support and their sibling relationship became closer.

Not much effort needed to be done for Kai the mute boy on second floor. All Chichiri needed to do was steal the butterfly collection meant for Reika and make Kai chase after him for it. Chichiri found out from there that the 'something bad' happening between them was that Reika was sick of being the only one talking and that she could never ever hear him say 'Aishiteru' to her. Looks like her worries need not to be prolonged, for if you were to look closely at the patterns on the wings of the butterfly collection, Kai had actually carefully bleached the bottom of their wings to spell out the word 'Aishiteru' on them. Their relationship was immediately mended. Raichu, Kai's neighbour on the same floor had her problem solved as well. All Chichiri had to do was switch the cell phones of her and the student when they met up by chance (they both had the same model), and when Raichu went out with her current boyfriend, she got a message from the student that read: _Sorry, I've seem to mistook your phone for mine. And sorry, I've seem to fallen in love with you…_ Raichu was soon busted, but she was rather glad it happened, because she was finally able to be herself. Mr. Bunzaemon finally passed away due to his malignant bone cancer and Chichiri managed to console Mrs. Bunzaemon by revealing the secret drawer that had her husband's will. Chichiri and Tasuki were paid a small sum as a token of gratitude despite Tasuki's refusal. Rinnie ignored Chichiri's worries and went to pose as the 'black rider' to satisfy her boyfriend's obsessions. Just when the race was getting hectic, Chichiri jumped out and let himself be hit by Rinnie's bike, revealing her intentions to her boyfriend. Both of them saw how the accident almost killed Chichiri and decided not to do anything stupid like that ever again. They paid for both his medical bills and rental service charges. That was one of the most physical services Chichiri had ever done.

Michitsu of the third floor managed to tell the truth about his double life to his childhood girlfriend Keiko, thanks to a little loosening of the tongue by Chichiri, and Chichiri made his first blunder by accidentally pushing Kamatsu into the busy traffic and getting him hit just to get to the girl he had a crush on, although it turned out to be the best when the girl, whose name was Minami, found out about the 304 letters in his bag and gave him _her_ letter she written yet had no guts to give it to him since the day she first saw him in tuition class. He managed to break the 'Helga Pataki Syndrome' from Andou and made him confess his love to Junko by spreading a rumour with the help of Tasuki that Junko was getting married. This was Tasuki's first time getting involved with a case other than Chichiri. Matsuo, Hotohori's neighbour of the same floor, finally managed to get a date, thanks to Chichiri. When he, in a bored mood as usual, took the bus home from work with Chichiri held in his arms, Chichiri spotted a perfect candidate—a very beautiful-looking gangguro at that—and put his plan to action: by hitting her head as soon as she sat just right in front of him. Matsuo being framed was of no question at all, but as usual, good stuff turned out from Chichiri's unorthodox way of bringing people together. The gangguro girl Maya now lives with him in his fourth floor home.

Perhaps the biggest case Chichiri had ever solved was with Albert Kay, the CIA secret agent who lived at the same sixth floor with Tasuki. It may not be a love case or anything, but he was willing to pay big sums of money for his help as he was getting desperate and he was running out of possible leads to the missing daughter of the Ukraine ambassador. With both Tasuki and Chichiri involved, it soon led the trio to an underground pornography society that was so well-kept secret, even the Yakuza didn't even know about it despite their wide connections. The daughter was found to have been kidnapped by one of those sick hentai members sent by the society after seeing her picture in her family blog online and have taken many erotic pictures of her to be sold to other members of society branches throughout the country of Japan. She had been sexually assaulted a number of times and was forced to wear kinky clothes and do outrageous things even normal sex didn't apply. Lots of close calls and dozens of sleuthing later, Albert Kay managed to save the Ukraine daughter and apprehend the society. Albert Kay's reward made most of the numbers in Tasuki's bank account.

Cherry and Mike on the eighth floor hired Chichiri for a little comfort because somehow, seeing the man-cat's attitude and cheery personality reminded them of their deceased friend and brother Gary who committed suicide because of his brain cancer. They found this rather easier to cope with the pain than going through therapy or forcing themselves to forget about the whole thing. They were the longest client Chichiri had ever been with—5 months in total—and took them another three weeks to convince them to get a housemate. A human touch was much better than a neko's touch.

Chichiri managed to solve eleventh floor Kyoto's problem. Apparently Kyoto owned a flower shop in town and twelfth floor Yukito who had a crush on him worked at a bookshop just beside his. Teaming up with Usagi, one of Kyoto's workers, Chichiri tried to pull the strings and shorten their distance. When they managed to bring them to best friend level, Kyoto suddenly disappeared. Yukito couldn't find him at his home and Usagi said he hadn't showed up for work in days. Then Chichiri remembered the favourite place Kyoto and his late ex-girlfriend used to hang out and dragged Usagi and Yukito there. Chichiri was right to think he was there because he was getting ready to commit suicide the same way his late ex-girlfriend did. They stopped him just in time and Yukito scolded him over and over again for being stupid and then burst into tears and begged for him to give her a chance at a new life. Kyoto agreed and soon Yukito moved from her twelfth floor to his eleventh floor. Yukito's neighbour, the mother and daughter Yume and Yumi cured their non-speaking terms when Chichiri led Yumi to the school clinic to eavesdrop over Yume's conversation with a student who got into a fight with others. That kid also had troubles of his own with his mother and Yume tried to help him out by telling him about her situation. It opened Yumi's eyes and made her realized that no matter what happened to the family, her mother still loved her with all her heart, and when Yumi broke the ice, it was the happiest day of Yume's life.

He even took time to help out with the fourteenth floor residents with their love life. Chichiri managed to cure the same 'Helga Pataki Syndrome' on Miki and made her more open and more daring about revealing her true feelings towards Katsuya. Their mistress-slave relationship soon upgraded into koibito level and needless to say, the sex life between them just got better. Chichiri made the timid little midget Makoto go up to Ai-chan's home to confess his love to her, bringing her flowers at the same time. From there, he soon knew that their feelings were mutual and that status had never bothered her family in whomever spouse she chose, so their relationship, happy to say, went rather swimmingly.

After servicing for more than 100 customers, Tasuki had saved enough money in his account to actually move out and buy a home of his own. He did just that. Bidding goodbye to his fellow friends of Rekka-Shin Apartment and the newly weds Nuriko and Hotohori (taking pictures for his album in the process), he and Chichiri moved off to their new home nearer to the big city with all their belongings and set up office there. They built a sign bearing the name of their business and almost two days after they moved in, customers came flocking in right in the middle of their unpacking after hearing word-of-mouth from friends and satisfied customers. Some even offer to help with their unpacking and home renovation as extra payment for Chichiri's services. In the end, Tasuki found out that he had earned more than he had spent.

"Sugoi-ne! look at the number of zeros in my account book, Chichiri! If business carries on like this, I might be able to become as rich as Hotohori ne!" Tasuki grinned as he lay on the Italian couch given by one of his impoverished customers staring at his account book. Chichiri was on his belly snuggled up like the neko he was, and Tasuki was lucky Chichiri weighed more like a cat than a man to withstand him.

"Ne, Chichiri. Since we're unpacked and our home is fully renovated without breaking a sweat, how's about we have a housewarming party of our own? Just the two of us. What do you say?"

"Nyu!" Chichiri mewed in delight. So far, despite the fact that he's a half-human, that was the only word he could say besides mewing, hissing and purring.

"Alright! An all-boys night-out tonight. First we gotta make reservations. I know just the place to eat."

Soon Tasuki and Chichiri found themselves in Genbu no Miko Restaurant, one of the most exclusive and exquisite restaurant in the city. Reservations and advance bookings must be done in order to even get a seat in the restaurant, let alone have a private box, which was where Tasuki and Chichiri were in at the moment. Due to Tasuki's business reputation, he was given special privileges to bring his pet along as long as he's pressed and dressed, so that night, for once in Chichiri's entire life, he actually wore a suit.

In the private box, Tasuki and Chichiri were having a spread on the table, all of them Western dishes, and the time of their life. The box itself was a marvelous piece of art with its Victorian design, English decors and posh paintings, and when the door is opened to let in the waiters and waitresses bringing in their orders, the front part of the door bore the logo representing Genbu Restaurant: a half-nude woman standing in front of a bluish-coloured tortoise of some sort.

"Oe-shi!" Tasuki said as he gulped down the 1917 Burgundy with great gusto. It's been a while since he drank real wine. "You can only get wine like this from the best places! Ne, am I right?"

Chichiri mewed in agreement, chomping the fish and chips Tasuki ordered for him. Tasuki watched as Chichiri ate. It seemed almost like yesterday he had bought Chichiri from Mitsukake's Pet Shop. He remembered playing dress-up with him and sharing meals with him. He remembered tying his hair the way a mother would do to their daughters. He remembered carrying him around town like some babysitter and getting all the attention of having a rare pet, especially from bishojo-s. He remembered days where he had to bloody hell chase him around or find him in the most outrageous hiding places whenever it was bath time and he remembered that the only way to calm him down was to shower together with him. That habit had not changed, not even after Chichiri has grown to an adult, and wouldn't be anytime soon. He would first announce that it was bath time for Chichiri, then when Chichiri was out of sight all of a sudden or was preparing to escape, Tasuki would voice out "I'm bathing too. It's up to you" before going into the bathroom and wait. Those words worked like a charm every time. 5 minutes later, you would see Chichiri popping his head through the door tentatively before allowing Tasuki to undress him and dunk him into the bathtub.

Suddenly his mind began to wander to the times they had their baths. The way Chichiri cringe whenever he reached out to remove his clothes…The way Chichiri hissed when his body touched the water…The way he removed his clothes and joined him in the bath slowly…The way he had to hold him close to his chest to lather soap on him properly…The way his blue hair dripped and dangled, sticking onto his smiley face whenever he gave Tasuki the 'I hate you' look…The way Chichiri jumped off the tub almost immediately after the bath was done…the way Chichiri pouted and shivered while Tasuki wrapped him up with the towel…The way the man-cat's length of manhood…

Chichiri noticed that he was staring and mewed questioningly. Tasuki quickly knocked himself back to the real world. He suddenly realized that he was actually having erotic thoughts about his pet! _Teme! _ He thought. _What the fuck is going on? Why am I suddenly sexually aroused by my pet. Am I a sick shota hentai attracted to stuff like this or something?_

Tasuki stared at the 1917 Burgundy in his hand and cursed quietly to himself.

"Kuso! Must be the booze!"

--:--

"Anno…Anata wa Tasuki-kun?"

"Hai, hai. Nande, bozu?"

Tasuki stopped his chitchat with the guests found himself staring at a boy in a suit no older than 12 with long sideburns and light brown hair tied into a stand-up ponytail. Tasuki, with Chichiri in his arms, was attending a party gathering for people with rare pets. Most of the people there were those of the rich and famous, aristocrats and people from exclusive family backgrounds and bloodline. All of them had a rare pet to share with them: ferrets, boas or pythons, lizards, etc…Needless to say his man-cat was the main attraction, along with two other guys Hikitsu and Tomite (the ones he was chitchatting with before he was interrupted) who were brothers of royalty holding a man-cat of their own by the name Tatara. Unlike Chichiri though, he was perfect with no flaws whatsoever and a total bishie. He was just as posh as his masters too but was not too proud. He was friendly enough to acknowledge Chichiri and strike a neko conversation with him.

"I suppose we haven't exactly met," the boy said as he held out his hand to shake. "I'm Chiriko. Isn't it ironic? My father is the one who sent out the invitations but he himself couldn't make it for the party. I have to fill in his shoes for the moment."

"Chiriko! _The _Chiriko!" Tasuki exclaimed as he took Chiriko's hand. "You mean _you're _the son of this multi-billionaire ojisan? You're like the god of all education! You were well-known to beat every scholar there is at any educational games and you finished college _and _university when you're just 9 years old! You even have your own computer games company that has been franchising worldwide! Su…Sunimase, I'm rambling like I always do when I'm excited. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Pleasure is all mine," Chiriko smiled humourously. "This reputation of mine gets so old, I could write it in a book. So, how did you like our food and hospitality so far?"

"Oh, everything here is a blast! The food here is seriously outta this world, and everyone here is just so nice. This is really an honour. Thanks for the invitation though. I mean, honestly, I don't even know why I was invited to this place. I'm not exactly rich and famous material, yet I'm invited into this really outstanding posh place and…"

"All people with rare pets are welcomed to join actually, regardless if they're high of status or not, but somehow they were more self-denial than you and decided that this kind of invitation was probably a hoax or something, so now you can only see who you see around here. Your reputation in using your man-cat for business was rather intriguing, especially to my business-minded otosan, thus, you're on the list."

"Ha ha, well, I have to say, Chiriko-san, I'm flattered."

"Can I, uh," Chiriko said as he brought himself closer to Tasuki. "Can we discuss something in private? I have something rather important to ask you. Bring Chichiri along too, please."

"Sure, sure, no problem," Tasuki nodded, then excused himself from Hikitsu and Tomite before following behind Chiriko. The little boy led up quite a long flight of stairs, along a corridor surrounded by walls filled with beautiful portraits of Chiriko's ancestors and finally into a study which looked like some oak-based President's office with its shelves of books, waxed and shined oak table and couches so soft you could sleep on it almost immediately.

"Have a seat, Tasuki-kun." Chiriko offered. "Whiskey?"

"Oh, yes, please."

Chiriko silently poured a glass of whiskey for Tasuki and himself. As he passed the drink to him and took a sip from his own glass, Tasuki asked tentatively, "Uh, aren't you a little young to drink strong stuff like these?"

"I've drank worse," Chiriko said as he swirled his drink, making the ice clink on the walls of the glass. "It goes with the territory."

"So, uh, what exactly is it that you want to talk to me about, Chiriko-san?"

"Alright, I'll just cut to the chase. My otosan didn't invite you because he liked your business-like reputation. You're not in the list of guests at all. He doesn't even know you exist. I pointed it out to him and convinced him to invite you by saying that you were a very close business client of mine and that you have the man-cat there for a rare pet. So far, you're the only commoner here among us."

"Na…Nani? Then what exactly am I doing here? Why did you invite me and Chichiri for?"

"I want you here because I want Chichiri."

A/N: Huh? What is he talking about? Why would he want Chichiri for? Certainly not because he wanted to buy him from Tasuki, that's for sure. I was imagine the music signaling the coming of the ending theme of Fushigi Yuugi when I wrote Chiriko's last words. What's gonna happen next? Not telling you! Reviews plz, while I work on the next chappie!


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: OK, what does Chiriko have in his agenda? You gotta read it for yourselves. Let's carry on with the show!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

PUSS, PUSS

"I want you here because I want Chichiri."

Tasuki was caught off guard. So shocked was he that he almost dropped his glass of whiskey. He was being invited to this party just to have Chichiri? There must be some mistake.

"Su…Sunimase, Chiriko-san. Anno…anata wa jodan deja ne?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Chiriko's cute face looked very serious indeed. He wasn't joking.

"Chichiri is mine, Chiriko-san. He's not for sale. You know better than I do that you have more than enough cash to get yourself a man-cat of your own."

"I don't want any other man-cat! I want Chichiri!"

"But he has a flaw. He's got a…"

"Blind left eye, I know," Chiriko finished his sentence. He drained the whiskey and continued, "I know a lot about him. I've done my research. He got blind on the left eye because the vet handling the birth accidentally stabbed it while trying to cut the umbilical cord. You have no idea how tough man-kittens' umbilical cords can be—you swear you need a chainsaw to hack them off. Must have been the side-effects of the DNA combination. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I don't care about Chichiri's flaws. I don't even care if he's deaf or mute or losing one leg. I want him, and only him."

"Demo…doushite? Why him? Why not others?"

"Because I love him!"

Now Tasuki really dropped his glass of whiskey. He was lucky the floor was covered with an expensive blood-red carpet or he would've heard a crash following the fall. Chiriko, the world's most famous boy genius barely even near his teens actually in love with his pet Chichiri whom he barely knew, and at a total different species at that? Now that is totally crazy! Why would he be nuts enough to fall for a cat? And he thought the booze was making him ga-ga to have erotic thoughts about Chichiri's nudity.

"Anno…daijobu deska? Are you sure you're not into drugs or something because…I thought you said…"

"Yes, you heard me right, and don't make me repeat myself again. I am in love with Chichiri and I want him to be with me. Even though I know I cannot marry him or anything, but who would suspect a guy and his pet, eh? You took Chichiri away from me and I want him back."

"_I _took Chichiri away from you? You gotta be nuts, man! _I _bought Chichiri with my own money! I never took him away from you or anyone else! What do you mean _I _took him away from you?"

"I mean, you took him away from me because I was the one who saw him first at Mitsukake's Pet Shop. I spotted him at the display counter when I was on my way to my car after a long business meeting. He was right there, leaning against the glass, peering at me, asking me to take him home and love him forever. One look at him and I knew I have found the love of my life. He may be a different species from me and he may have a flaw or two, but love is blind, you see, and I wasn't going to let anyone stop my destiny.

"Unfortunately, that Mitsukake guy does not accept credit cards, and I never carry cash around in my wallet, so I had to run all the way to the nearest ATM machine to get the cash I needed to buy him. But as soon as I went back to the shop to make my purchase, I saw you coming out of the store carrying the love of my life away from me. I scolded Mitsukake and demanded that he go after you to get Chichiri back, but he said it's a first-come-first-serve basis and that I didn't make a booking first. He said he was only doing business, and I don't really blame him. I tried to follow after you but you were long gone and I was caught up with another meeting with another foreign client.

"I've been following up with your progress ever since you took Chichiri away. It hurts everyday to think that Chichiri's living in a shabby place you call apartment and live the life of a commoner. He should be living with me in this life of fortune! So many wealth and riches around me and I can't even share with the one I love. And what's worse, you used him as some business tool to earn money for yourself! You treat him like some slave to be used for your own benefits and then soon forgotten when everything said and done!"

"Nandateyunda! Who said anything about treating Chichiri as a slave? He's my pet! I would never treat him like a slave! He's practically aneki to me! There's no way…" Tasuki protested at first but was stopped by a stern raise of hand from the little tycoon.

"I don't want to hear any of your explanations anymore. I just want to ask you one thing: Since Chichiri is nothing more than just a business tool for you, are you going to let me have what was rightfully mine?"

Tasuki glared at Chiriko long and hard. He thought the Chiriko he knew would be a nice, little boy genius who knows nothing but boring educational stuff and would have a mouthful of business issues only. Seemed like he thought wrong.

"Sunimase, Chiriko-san. Chichiri is not for sale. I bought him first, so he's mine, and I will not give him to anyone else, not even for a billion yen."

"Is that your final answer?" Chiriko looked up at Tasuki with venom in his eyes while his hand casually poured himself another glass of whiskey.

"Hai."

"Then I guess," Chiriko suddenly switched his face to that cute little 12-year-old angel he was and toasted him, "we're gonna have a rocky relationship ahead of us. Enjoy the rest of the party, Tasuki-kun."

Tasuki was taken aback at the sudden mood change at first, then realized that it was all for show. He nodded and quickly made his way out of the study. Chiriko didn't attempt to stop nor had he sent any guards to stop him and pound him into a pulp or throw him into some dark underground dungeon. Tasuki didn't stay for the party either. He left the place as quickly as possible without any incidents happening.

This definitely meant war.

--:--

After that complicated discussion with Chiriko, life for both Tasuki and Chichiri wasn't easy. Being the boss and the genius behind his company, Chiriko didn't need to hang around much in the office as everything was delegated accordingly to his workers—except for major meetings, that is—so he had plenty of time to just get out there and have a pretty good time.

That was just exactly what he intended to do. Chiriko would suddenly pop out of nowhere and glomp on Chichiri in the middle of his assignment and sometimes would take him away on an unscheduled date of some sort without even considering that Chichiri was in the middle of a job and that the customer was still tied to a contract in rental rates. Tasuki knew about this and was kind enough to drop the excess rental rates Chiriko had wasted from his customers. Sometimes Chiriko would pay for the rental rates, saying that Chichiri was needed for another task, but in truth, he only wanted him all to himself. Tasuki was also constantly kept on his toes too, because sometimes when there's no business and Tasuki and Chichiri went on their usual all-boys outing, Chiriko would also follow behind them and spy on them, watching their every move and going everywhere they went, and he had no attempt to hide his presence from them, which was rather annoying to Tasuki.

Despite Chiriko's attempts to pry Chichiri away from his customers and Tasuki, Chichiri managed to be steered clear away from the little young tycoon, thanks to help from Tasuki and the customers themselves. Whenever Chiriko approached, the customers who were warned by Tasuki about him would pretend to go to another road to lead him off track or would hold on to Chichiri for dear life and worm their way from Chiriko's insistence to take the man-cat. Tasuki would also try his best to lead Chiriko off his track and spend most of their all-boys outing indoors with the residents of Rekka-Shin Apartment instead of going out and seeing that little stalker all over the place. The last straw was when Chiriko actually managed to follow him to Rekka-Shin and asked straight out if he could borrow Chichiri for a day. That's when Tasuki tried to get help from lawyers to get a restraining order so that Chiriko would just stay away from him and Chichiri. That put Chiriko in his place.

One night, while Chiriko sat in his study sulking and downing glass after glass of whiskey, his mind began to swirl and work its way into trying to get his way around acquiring Chichiri. He may be rich and can hire the best lawyer to take custody of Chichiri or use his connections to force Tasuki to give him up, but that would take the fun out of it. He wanted to do things firsthand, like the way he went through all those educational competitions personally fighting against his opponents and the thrill of the win when he finds a formidable foe, or building his computer games business and launched it big scale around the world with the thrill of profits and ratings rolling in. Right now, Tasuki is a formidable foe and he was going to have a personal touch to this contest against him. No help is needed to play this game if he could do it himself.

"Konbanwa, Chiri. Anymore of them whiskey left?"

Chiriko looked up distastefully at the twins who barged into his study unannounced. He would've given them a scolding about coming in uninvited and shoo them out, but the booze sort of sedated him.

"How many times have I told you to knock before you enter?"

"Awe, come on. Lighten up a little. Do you have to be a stuck-up all the time?"

Chiriko rolled his eyes and downed another mouthful of whiskey as the twins came up and helped themselves with the remaining whiskey in the bottle. The twins were distant cousins of Chiriko who were more of the offspring from the black sheep of the family. Their father didn't pursue the business line like all males in Chiriko's father's side of the family did. Instead he went off to pursue music and married a simple Chinese commoner working as a martial arts teacher instead of a boss's rich daughter, unlike the rest of the family does. He and his line of the family may have become a well-known family of musicians and martial arts fighter, and have riches equivalent to at least half of Chiriko's family fortunes, but he never gained recognition from the family. He and his family may occasionally be invited to social gatherings and family parties, but they're definitely not the centre of attraction. The twins who were now happily drowned themselves with the booze were Amiboshi, martial arts extraordinaire, and Suboshi, flute master.

"What are you guys doing here?" Chiriko asked with a disapproving look in his eyes, though he made no attempt to stop the twins finishing his expensive liquor. "There're no parties or gatherings these days so you don't have any reason to hang around in my house. You know my otosan feels about…"

"Yeah, yeah, we're spawns from someone who's the disgrace of the family, we know," Suboshi waved Chiriko's comment away in a bored tone. "You don't have to remind us. We've got enough from your otosan ever since we're born."

"Yeah, you only need to hear so many times to actually be reminded by it for the rest of your life," Amiboshi chided in. "But that doesn't mean we're going anywhere near that boring business life of yours."

"I don't expect you to," Chiriko huffed in reply. "So what's keeping you here?"

"Apparently your okasan has taking a liking for us," Suboshi said. "We've done pretty well entertaining her guests in one of her sophisticated women's tea party and she invited us to stay here anytime we want. Didn't you know that? You should, you know. You're a genius, remember?"

"You should've seen us in action," Amiboshi said as he cracked his knuckles. "Suboshi's flute music coupled with my rhythmic martial moves. They were so impressed that we were asked to do seconds. Your otosan is so busy with his outstation jobs and stuff, he didn't even notice we've become regular guests in this house until one of his clients' wife—a member of your okasan's tea party nonetheless—mentioned about it. By then, it was too late to back out since we've already built a reputation over it. He had to accept our presence whether he liked it or not."

Chiriko sighed and shook his head. Typical for his otosan to not noticed things until it was too late, just like the last few years he forgot his birthday because of his outstation job and remembering it only about a week or even a month later. He walked over to the liquor shelf to get himself another drink. It was vodka this time. He needed something stronger, what with all the goings-on these days. As expected, the twins shared drinks with him.

"Hey, these drinks don't come cheap, you know?" Chiriko complained as he watched the twins helping themselves while he downed the strong liquor. "You may be welcomed by okasan, but you sure are not welcomed by me!"

"Come on, boy genius," Suboshi said as he clapped Chiriko's back. "Like it said, lighten up a little! What's the use of having great wealth if you can't enjoy it?"

Chiriko groaned and decided to ignore them. Amiboshi exchanged a couple of knowing mischievous looks with his twin brother before saying, "Ne, Chiri. You seemed to have something troubling you. Need any help?"

"I don't need your help over nothing."

"Come, come now, dear cousin," Suboshi reached over and put his arm over his shoulder. "We know your dirty little secret, Chiri."

"Na…Nani? What are you talking about?" Chiriko asked, his baby-cute face showing a little more than just nervousness.

"Don't play dumb with us, Chiri," Amiboshi joined in with his twin. "You've got more skeletons in your closets than any scary serial killer, my little tomodachi. You got the hicks for this little man-cat belonging to that ol' matchmaker Tasuki, am I right?"

"Oh, you don't have to lie to us, Chiri," Suboshi stopped Chiriko from protesting. "It's a well-known secret between us and we know more than you think we know. We may be musicians and martial arts practitioners, but we've still got the street-smart goods and the connections just like you and any of your otosan's side of the family does. You're in love with Chichiri, the rarest pet species in the entire planet, and you just issued a love war against this Tasuki guy who bought him away before you did. You know, I do think it's not fair. I mean, you have all the cash in the world and you can simply pay that Mitsukake pet shop guy the full price despite a minor blind flaw, and yet Tasuki, a construction worker who earns less than you pay for your per night stay in that 7-star hotel in Scotland, was able to get away with almost a 40 percent discount because of that flaw. Does it even do any justice to our Chiri now, ottota?"

"I don't believe it does, oni-chan," Amiboshi shook his head in a mock expression of sympathy. Suddenly, Chiriko found himself in the middle of a conversation between twin brothers who were referring Chiriko like a third person. "You see, our cousin here has got all the money in the world, more than we do, and yet he couldn't even buy the love of his life who he could share his wealth with. I mean, so what if that gorgeous bootilicious lil' ol' man-cat is a cat? He's still half-human now, isn't it? There's no law saying that you cannot fall in love with a man-cat. Ignore the neko stuff and you'll find yourself drooling over a hunk that could melt even the coldest of hearts. Hot and sizzling, don't you agree, oni-chan?"

"I couldn't agree more, ottota. Chiri is our most favourite cousin among our extended family. He deserves the best, and the best will be that Chichiri neko. Tasuki goes around showing off Chichiri to everyone and getting all the attention while Chiri stays here all alone in this silent home with nothing but money to accompany him, and that wasn't even enough to cure his heartbreaking pain. Poor Chiri, standing aside there watching from afar as Tasuki gloats all over Chichiri. Did you know that Chichiri have been the one doing all the dirty work of matchmaking while Tasuki stays in his room with his feet on the table enjoying the profits and all the glory?"

"No! Really? I thought Tasuki and Chichiri are working together on this matchmaking business!"

"The only time they ever work together was when Chichiri needs help in writing letters. That's all Tasuki does. Other than that, Chichiri is the brains behind the outfit. Now they live in a nice big house and business is booming like the jigoku world had just been put away under lock and key. By gosh, they even start dining in fancy restaurants and buying stuff he used to be unable to afford, passing off as rich people like us! Who does he think he is anyway? Some guy who thinks he can reach the top overnight without any effort whatsoever? I don't think so! Chichiri belongs rightfully to our Chiri and we should make this right, don't you think?"

"Matte, matte, chotto matte yo!" Chiriko immediately cut in to the conversation. So far, he had been hearing words that really described how he felt about the whole deal and he had to admit, though the truth hurts, it's still the truth and he couldn't deny it. Tasuki had things way too easy and it's about time he set things right. But when he started hearing the twins indicating that they wanted in on this deal, that was the last straw. He never wanted the twins or anyone else to get involved in anything that was his affair.

"Oh! Okairinasai," Amiboshi said in a mock surprise tone. "I thought we lost in our plan to retrieve Chichiri."

"I don't remember asking for your help! I don't remember asking for favours! This is _my _problem, let me handle this stuff myself!"

"And look where it led you. Here! Right here drowning in your sorrow trying to come up with a plan that would not work anyway! Come, come now, dear cousin," Suboshi said as he finished the last drop of vodka and chewed on a block of ice. "You know you need our help. You may be a boy genius but when it comes to dirty playing you know squat. You wouldn't want to go through all those legality trying to remove that restraining order and issue a court order and everything now, do you? It's just gonna waste your time and money, and by the time you got your order, he might have moved away or been long gone, migrated to some place even we can't trace."

"De…Demo…" Chiriko wanted to protest but suddenly found that he couldn't say anything to retaliate them.

"You want something, you gotta do it the family style: go down right and dirty. After all, what are family members and money for?" Amiboshi said as he leaned so close, his lips almost touched Chiriko's ear lobe. "Admit it, Chiri. You need us. So bad it aches in your heart. When the straight road doesn't work, it's time to make a detour. We're building it right now for your taking, ne, oni-chan?"

"Hai, my dear ottota. Whaddaya say, dear cousin?" Suboshi imitated his brother leaning close to Chiriko's ear.

Chiriko's determined face and weakened state of mind mirrored his decision.

--:--

Tasuki was walking home after about an hour working out at a private gym. Chichiri was not into gym and exercising—he's catty enough to stretch his body into shape, thank you very much—so he was left at home to fend for himself, doing what cats always do when they're home alone. Tasuki was only a few blocks away from home when he was approached by two weird-looking young boys in their early pre-teens dressed in what looked like Chinese medieval warrior outfits, with bands across their heads to match. Both of them looked very much alike, except that one of them was just slightly a little bit taller than the other. They were no other than Amiboshi and Suboshi.

"Konbanwa. You must be Tasuki-kun," Suboshi said as he raised his flute close to his lips.

"Yeah? Who wants to know? The charity for the Chinese Performing Arts Association?" Tasuki asked, feeling rather weird at the twins wearing Chinese outfits when it was obvious that they looked Japanese.

"We're here sending our regard to you from our beloved cousin," Amiboshi replied as he revealed a weapon that looked like large lantern-like balls tied onto red rope. As soon as Suboshi started playing his flute, the ropes danced around his brother like a snake would when it hears the snake-charmer play his music. Tasuki was startled.

"Na…Nani! What the hell is that!"

"My ultimate weapon from the medieval times," Amiboshi replied as he wound part of the ropes around his wrists. Suboshi came closer and stood behind his brother, playing the flute without missing a beat. "Charming, don't you think? Very ancient and very authentic, like a snake. Once it hears music, it just can't help itself, and combine with the right chi from a trained martial arts practitioner, it can be a totally deadly weapon. It could pierce through your heart without you even noticing it coming. Though I would love to satisfy its lust for blood, you're not exactly the target we're looking for."

"What…What do you want?"

"Just a small reminder and a warning. The perfect greeting and thanks for looking after our cousin's sweetheart," Amiboshi gave him a seductive evil look as he continued playing with the ropes that levitated and danced around him.

"Ma…Masaka…?" Before Tasuki could comprehend what Amiboshi was trying to say, he felt a hard punch on his face. Blood immediately seeped through the scratches on his cheek. He turned to see the floating balls remained about its master, but the only thing different was that there was blood on one of the balls.

"Impressive, don't you think? You haven't seen anything yet."

Another punch came. And another. And another. All of them moved so fast, Tasuki couldn't see where it came from. Every time he turned he would see the bloodied balls beside Amiboshi, but when he braced himself to fight them off, he was caught off guard. More blows were aimed at his gut, his side, his forehead, his back, his legs, and everywhere else in between, yet he couldn't detect their movements no matter how he tried. Suboshi increased the beat of the song he was playing and the weapon moved at an even faster speed, hitting Tasuki everywhere simultaneously. He could hear cracks and wondered if he had broken something. Before he knew it, he found himself on the ground, lying on his own pool of blood and twitching once in a while in pain. Suboshi stopped playing and Amiboshi's weapon immediately slumped back into his arms, limp and lifeless. The twins walked towards Tasuki and Amiboshi gave Tasuki a nudge on his shoulder.

"Ottota," Suboshi said warningly. "You know better than to taunt a defeated man."

"Just testing to see if he's still alive, oni-chan," Amiboshi said nonchalantly. "After all, hurting him without killing _was _part of the deal. We don't want our dear cousin to get into trouble now, do we?"

"You're right. Of course not. Let's leave and go get what we came for, brother. He's waiting for the good news. We better deliver it. Tasuki-kun is a celebrity, and no one would leave a celebrity to die here. He'll get help eventually."

"Hai. I must say, oni-chan. It sure is a job well done. Your music always does the trick."

"And so is your kung fu, ottota. Very admirable. Let's not waste time. We'll celebrate later back at home."

The twins sharing a kiss were the last thing Tasuki saw before he passed out.

A/N: Ouch! Itai-ne! What's gonna happen next? What will Chichiri's fate in Chiriko's hands? You gotta read on yourselves! Yeah, I know you have a dozen questions about this chapter, being Chiriko's crush on Chichiri the main one. You guys know why I chose Chiriko to have a crush on him? That's because I was surfing online one day frantically collecting Fushigi Yuugi pictures (that time I was in one of those FY-crazed fan mood) and I just so happen to save a picture of the front cover of their VCD series collection, and the cover of Disc 4 was a picture of Chichiri snuggling Chiriko and tickling his chin and both of them looked so happy together, almost yaoi-like, thus Chiriko fighting with Tasuki over Chichiri. There, that should clear everything. Alright, on with the next show! Reviews plz!


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Hey, guys! How's it going? All pumped up to read what happens next in the fight between Tasuki and Chiriko for Chichiri? Well, hold your horses and read on, cowboys and cowgirls! You ain't seen nothing yet!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

PUSS, PUSS

Tasuki slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a white-tiled ceiling with a florescent light shining at his face. He turned his head—which throbbed real badly—slightly to his right and saw Yui, Nakago, Miaka and Tamahome sitting on a white couch. Yui and Miaka were both sleeping on their boyfriends' shoulder and the men were talking as quietly as possible to each other. They noticed Tasuki looking at them and smiled.

"Hey, Tasuki," Tamahome held up his hand in a wave position. "Welcome back from the dead."

"Hmm…?" Miaka blinked her eyes open. "Is Tasuki awake already?"

"Yes, Miaka, he's up."

Nakago tapped Yui to wake her and soon, after notifying the nurse to get the doctor, they all gathered around Tasuki. The doctor soon came in and checked Tasuki out. He had a few broken ribs, numerous cuts and bruises on every corner of his body, a broken arm and an almost broken ankle with a couple of slightly traumatized internal organs and a concussion on the head, but all in all, his body condition was stable and all wounds were treated. He had to continue staying in the hospital for at least a couple of months for observation and rehabilitation of his broken parts. They waited until the doctor left, telling them not to stay too long before fussing over Tasuki like he was some poor lost puppy.

"Where the heck am I?" Tasuki groaned as he tried to sit up. Nakago and Tamahome helped him.

"You're in the Kanagawa Hospital," Yui replied. "Nakago and I were on our way to invite you to our engagement party next week but you weren't home when we came knocking at your doorstep. We found you a few blocks away from your home all covered in blood and we thought you were dead. Nakago immediately made a call for the ambulance and we followed them when they took you away all the way here."

"Yui called me to tell me about your predicament and I told Tamahome," Miaka said while he helped Tasuki pour a glass of water. "And we've been visiting you ever since."

"How…How long was I out?" Tasuki asked, trying to bear the throbbing in his head.

"About a week," Tamahome replied with a grin.

"Nani! A week!" Tasuki exclaimed. "Teme! That was way too long! What am I…What…"

"Calm down, Tasuki, calm down," Miaka said as she offered the glass of water to him. "Here, drink this. Tell us, what exactly happened here?"

"Well…" Tasuki took a sip, then continued, "I remember walking back home from gym…then these two guys—twins actually—came up to me dressed in some sort of Chinese martial arts outfit. I think they're some kind of martial arts students or something. They said they were giving me some sort of regard from their cousin and then they pulverized me like some punching bag, then…"

Tasuki widened his eyes as he began to remember something the twins were trying to say to him. His visitors noticed the change of expression on his face.

"Nande?" Tamahome asked.

"Where's Chichiri? Where is my man-cat?"

Everyone looked at each other uneasily, not sure what to tell Tasuki.

"Nandayo? Where's my man-cat? Where's Chichiri!"

"Err…You see, um," Miaka tried to arrange her words so as not to alarm Tasuki. "We went to your house to bring some of your clothes here and, well, we saw your home sorta ransacked."

"We tried to look for Chichiri but he was nowhere to be seen," Tamahome shrugged his shoulders apologetically. "Nothing was stolen, thank goodness, but Chichiri seemed to have disappeared in thin air. We couldn't find him anywhere. His clothes were there and his cat food was there, but no Chichiri. We reported a possible kidnapping to the police, but so far they couldn't find any fingerprints or trace that could lead them to a possible suspect."

"It's him! It has to be him! He sent his lackies to take Chichiri away from me!"

"Who? Who would want to take Chichiri?" Nakago asked.

"Chiriko, of course! You know, that obsessive rich tycoon stalker I've been telling you about! The one I issued a restraining order to! He must've been behind all this."

"I remember you telling us about him," Tamahome rubbed his chin, recalling the day they came to Tasuki's home for a friendly visit. "But are you sure it's him? He may be rich and all, but isn't this a little…"

"It had to be him! I know it's him! Only people like him could hired someone so skilled like those two and remove every trace of evidence pointed to him. You know how rich people work! They look nice and sweet on the outside but deep down, they're dirty and cruel and have a tendency to misuse their wealth! It had to be him!"

"Before we jump to conclusions here, you better make sure…" Nakago tried to calm Tasuki down but Tasuki cut him short.

"Ie! There's no mistake about it! It had to be Chiriko! I'm going to his place right now and…"

"Ah! Cho…Chotto matte yo!"

Miaka, Tamahome, Yui and Nakago tried to stop him but the pain did the job for them. Tasuki tried to get off the bed but pain from his almost broken ankle and broken ribs shot up immediately like a speeding bullet, making him fall straight to the ground without hesitation. The men quickly helped him up and put him back to bed, but Tasuki wasn't going to be subdued without a fight. Miaka and Yui ran out of the room to get the doctor.

"Hanase! Hanase yo!" Tasuki shouted, struggling to get away from Tamahome and Nakago who were trying their best to hold him down without making his wounds worse. "Hanase! Chichiri needs me! I need to save him from Chiriko! Who knows what he'll do to him!"

"Calm down, Tasuki! You can't be sure it's him," Tamahome begged, earning a kick from the patient.

"It is him! I know it's him! Hanase yo!"

"Just stay still, Tasuki!" Nakago urged. "You're going to break another bone if you struggle like that again. Why don't you stay here and we try to confirm it for you?"

"You don't know him like I do! You can't convict him! I'm the only one who can talk things through to him! Now let me go! Hanase!"

The girls soon came back with nurses and a doctor, the medics bringing in sedatives as expected. It was as if they were used to patients who suddenly go haywire. They injected the sedatives into him and held him down until it took effect on him. They excused the visitors and told them to go home for now and that Tasuki needed his rest. They reluctantly left after they took one last look at him.

"Poor guy," Miaka said sympathetically. "Shouldn't we do something about this?"

"Maybe," Tamahome said. "But without any leads and any evidence, we cannot just go barging into people's houses accusing them of a crime we're not sure they committed. I wish we could help, but our hands are tied right now."

"Tamahome's right," Nakago agreed. "We need to investigate this thing further before jumping into any conclusions. The last thing we want in our hands is a bunch lawyers sent by one of the most richest and respectable man in town and being sued for something we can't afford to pay."

"I hope Tasuki's alright," Yui said worriedly before the four of them went out of the hospital.

As Tasuki unwillingly succumbed to the effects of the sedatives, he breathed out one name:

"Chi…Chichiri…"

--:--

Chichiri opened his eyes and stared out at the window of his room. He felt as if someone was calling his name. He walked towards the window and looked down. No one at the gate, no one in the garden and no one below near the window calling for him. Chichiri shrugged. Maybe he was just hearing things.

It's been almost a week since he was been taken by the weirdly dressed twin brothers Amiboshi and Suboshi. He was playing with his favourite red and yellow yarn of balls when he heard a knock on the door. He thought it was Tasuki and assumed that he had forgotten his keys again—he always had a habit of forgetting his keys whenever he moved into a new home—and went over to open the door for him. As soon as he used both his hands to turn the doorknob, the twins barged in and threw him off balance. Suboshi started playing his flute and Amiboshi's weapons immediately came to life. One side of the roped ball wound around Chichiri, binding him tight and picking him up high above Amiboshi's head. The other side of the roped ball started crashing onto everything there is in the house. Chichiri mewed and hissed and struggled, trying to get out of his binds and stop whatever Amiboshi was doing but to no avail. After the twins did their damages, Suboshi went over towards Chichiri and played a song so soothing to the ear that he couldn't keep his eyes open. He immediately fell into a slumber and the next thing he knew, he woke up in a room fit for a prince to live in with Chiriko staring at him with a cute smiley face.

Chiriko was a nice person actually. He met his every whim and fancy even if he didn't ask for it and throughout his whole week stay in Chiriko's mansion while Tasuki was in the hospital, he had been taken to places he had never been before, like riding the bullet train, go to the famous shopping districts like Ginza, Harajyuku, Roppongi Hills, Shibuya and Shinjyuku and even took him to places where cosplay was the highlight of the city. They were all fabulous, and Chiriko really treated him like anyone would to a koibito, but Chichiri knew their relationship was not meant to be. He's a half-neko and Chiriko was a human. Neko-s and humans just don't mix.

Besides, there was no one he'd rather have than his master Tasuki…

Chichiri gasped as he realized what he was thinking. No one he'd rather have than his master Tasuki? What in the world was going through his head? He just claimed that cats and humans don't mix, yet he'd rather have Tasuki as a koibito than Chiriko! He had just become a walking contradiction! This wasn't supposed to be what he should have in mind! Humans and cats being together is a doomed relationship. Why would he wish his relationship with Tasuki to be so?

He stared long and hard at the night sky above him. The moon shone like the sun, only slightly dimmer and not enough to illuminate the entire area. He began to wonder why he wanted a relationship further than just master-pet. Was it because of his job? Was it because seeing other people successfully becoming koibito-s while he and Tasuki were nowhere close triggered his subconscious and inner desire to want Tasuki to become his lover instead of his master? Could it be that because of his loneliness he had suppressed all these years when Tasuki's point of view towards him was no more than just a pet made him feel that he deserved more than this? Or could it be way back, way far back during the first day he started his relationship with Tasuki, back when he was a kitten?

He did remember meeting Chiriko before Tasuki. He did remember Chiriko staring at him longingly from the other side of the display counter. He did remember watching Chiriko as he tried to convince Mitsukake, his first master, to accept credit card in vain, and then watching him leave again to get cash. But something was not right on the day he first met Chiriko. He may have stared at him for quite a while when both their eyes met but there was something that didn't really click between him and the young rich tycoon. There was something in Chiriko that didn't really sit too well with his instincts. Every pet has this innate sense of knowing who the right person to be your master is, and Chichiri could definitely smell out that Chiriko was not the master for him. Which is why he wasn't too disappointed when Chiriko didn't buy him.

Now Tasuki was different. There was something about him that attracted him. Something more than just being the right person as his master. No, it was much deeper than that. Something that he just couldn't explain. Something that he just knew by instinct. He knew that his life would soon revolve around this wild-looking college dropout and that his future lies in the hands of this fiery-red haired man, therefore he hung onto dear on Tasuki the moment Mitsukake put him out on the counter for him to see. And it wasn't just the presence of Tasuki bathing with him that calmed him down every time it was bath time. It was the sight of his muscular naked body due to long years of heavyweight lifting in construction sites and the feel of his touches in bath that truly turned him on. Even during his first bath with Tasuki had already set him into the 'mood' within seconds and left him completely hung over. Not to mention staring at his manhood nonetheless. No spa-like bath or Jacuzzi dunking with Chiriko was able to turn him on like Tasuki did.

Chichiri sighed and walked back to the bed. It was true. It was obvious. And there was no way he could deny it anymore than he could ignore it.

He was in love with his own master Tasuki.

--:--

"Chiriko! Chiriko! You get out here right this instant!"

Chichiri woke up with a start at that voice. He recognized that voice anywhere. He blushed as he went towards the window and saw Tasuki standing outside the gate hollering like a madman while the security guards tried to shoo him away. He was shocked to see Tasuki covered in bandages and had a pair of crutches under his armpits and a cast on his ankle. What happened to Tasuki? Did he get into an accident? Was that why he hadn't seen him for so long? What exactly happened to him? He pawed and mewed at the window but he was too far from eyeshot to catch Tasuki's attention.

"Looks like our main guest has arrived."

Chichiri spun round to see Chiriko standing just right behind him looking down from the window at the manic Tasuki, a smile on his face that meant anything but sincere. He laid his hand on the man-cat's shoulder and said, "Come, Chichiri. Let's meet up and give him a well-deserved welcome."

Chiriko picked Chichiri up and brought him out to the corridor. One of his maids ran up to inform him about Tasuki raving like a lunatic outside the gate. Chiriko nodded in acknowledgement and said that he would personally handle this. He walked all the way to the gate with Chichiri in his arms and dismissed the guards. Now the only thing that separated between him and a possible Tasuki fist was the high 10-foot steel-black gate.

Tasuki glared at the 12-year-old boy with a vengeance. It wasn't easy for him to get out of the hospital and come all the way to Chiriko's mansion. He had to fight off whatever remaining sedative effects that remained in his body and sneak out of the hospital, avoiding every nurse, hospital attendant and doctor possible. He looked rather weird with all the bandages and the cast around his ankle and moving with crutches for support, and passers-by and the taxi driver sure gave a couple of strange looks seeing Tasuki in his form, but he managed to get to the mansion nonetheless without any further stress on his injuries.

"Ohayo, Tasuki-kun," Chiriko greeted with his award-winning smile. "How nice of you to come and visit us."

"Chiriko! Teme!" Tasuki tried to reach over to grab him but the gaps between the gate railings were too small for him to force even a finger through. Chiriko stood there with Chichiri cradled in his arms, his smile never leaving his face.

"As you can see now, Chichiri is having a really good time here with me. I am so sorry to hear about your mugging. I heard the perpetrator kinda made a mess at your home. Chichiri was so frightened when he came running to find me. I mean, I think those muggers were targeting him. He is, after all, a very rare pet species and people pay high prices in the black market for him. I must be the only person he could think of at that time…"

"Damare! Damare! Stop your fucking lies!" Tasuki yelled. "Chichiri would never come here looking for you! He has plenty of friends to search for help, and you're the not only saint around here! You planned all this! You sent your cousins to give me a wallop so bad that I won't be able to put up a fight when they take Chichiri away from me! You planned this from the beginning! You took Chichiri away from me and I want him back right now!"

"And what is your proof that I planned this heist? All you have is a whole body of sores and broken bones with a sedative-induced mind and a book full of records suggesting a mugging from an unknown suspect. Who in their right mind would believe that Chiriko, boy genius and son of one of the richest people in society with all the money in the world to buy twice as much man-cats anyone can own, would fight with a commoner over one man-cat, and with a flaw nonetheless? You've got nothing on me, Tasuki-kun, so just give it up."

"Baka! I'm not gonna give up that easily, you weasel! Chichiri belongs to me! I bought him first and he should go with me, not you! I don't care what plan you're pulling and I'm willing to forget everything that you have done to me. Just give Chichiri back to me and we'll call it even. Kaise!"

"You think I would give Chichiri to you after you've abandoned him for so long? You were mugged and he was almost kidnapped. He was so traumatized by your absence and yet you didn't even bother to at least ask someone to send word to me or him that you were in the hospital. Seems like you care more about your pain than Chichiri's safety and whereabouts, don't you agree?"

"Urusai! You're just as manipulative as any freaking tycoon who misuses their wealth for their own benefits! Chichiri's my pet and he's like aneki to me! He should be with me, not some sick obsessive otaku like you! Kaise yo!"

"Why don't we let Chichiri decide who he should go with?" Chiriko said as he put Chichiri down on the floor, but not before whispering into Chichiri's ear, "I cannot guarantee his future safety though."

Chichiri was torn between two sides as he was set on the ground between Chiriko and Tasuki outside the gate. He wanted to go back to Tasuki. He had waited him for so long. He had longed to be back with him. Chiriko had treated him very nicely, but he knew he didn't belong here. Yet Chiriko's last words struck him like lightning. He knew what that warning meant. If he were to choose Tasuki over him, bandages and casts would not be the only thing that would hang around Tasuki's body. It could probably mean even worse wounds, maybe even coma…or death. No! He cared too much for Tasuki to let him die because of him. Hard as it may seem, he had to make this choice. Ignoring Tasuki's calls, he backed away and nuzzled against Chiriko's leg. Chiriko smiled and picked him up in his arms. His heart ached to see Tasuki's face of disbelief but he had to do this.

He had to save his master's life.

"See? The pet has spoken. He's choosing me. I'm afraid you have to leave now. We're going out on an outing later and I must prepare." So saying, Chiriko turned his back on Tasuki and began walking towards the mansion.

"Nandateyunda! Doushite, Chichiri! Doushite!" Tasuki shouted at the gate as he watched them disappear out of sight. "What has he done to you! What has he brainwashed you with! Chichiri, I know you don't mean this! I know you don't want this! Come back! Come back!"

He noticed Chichiri looking back at him sadly and could tell what his true intentions were.

"Don't worry! You hang in there, Chichiri! I will save you from him! I will! I promise!"

A/N: Oh dear! The plot's getting rather thicker by the minute. Will Tasuki succeed? Not telling you! Gotta read it yourself! Review me while I work on my next chappie!


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: What will happen next in Chichiri and Tasuki's rocky relationship? Not telling! You gotta read it by yourself! Let's go! This chappie is gonna be long and juicy! A little bit rated here, so this chappie is for mature eyes only!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

PUSS, PUSS

"I'm telling you guys, I was there! I know it's him!"

Tasuki was at home in bed with the two couples and Rekka Shin Apartment's famous husband and wife Nuriko and Hotohori at each side. After his confrontation with Chiriko, Tasuki was physically shooed away by his guards. Nuriko and Hotohori were on their way back from the adoption agency to find him slumped on a bench in the park looking like someone just died. If it weren't for Nuriko's strength due to habitual body-building, Tasuki wouldn't be able to moved with all the bandages and casts on his body.

"Be reasonable, Tasuki," Yui said as she wrapped new bandages around him replacing the soiled ones. An advantage she gained when she was the team leader of the First-Aid Club. "I know you mean well to try saving Chichiri-chan, but you're dealing with the son of a tycoon here. It's like trying to clear a forest fire with a glass of water!"

"Hai, she's right," Hotohori agreed. "Even with my wealthy family background, I pale in comparison with Chiriko. Not to mention my superiors are absolutely terrified to cross lines with his otosan. My company is under his otosan's turf."

"So is my restaurant," Tamahome chided in.

"So are our universities," Miaka, Yui and Nakago said simultaneously.

"And so is that Mitsukake pet shop you mentioned and almost half of the district my apartment is built on and…" Nuriko counted but was cut short by Tasuki's exclamation.

"Na…Nani! His span of power goes that far? This…This can't be happening!"

"Oh yeah, it's happening alright," Nuriko nodded in confirmation, then poked an accusing finger on Tasuki's nose—the only part least injured on his body—and warned, "So if you think a small little insignificant sushi like you is gonna out-taste an unagiri like him, you got one thing coming!"

"Err…Food is not exactly the best way to describe his situation right now, Nuriko-san," Tamahome said as he tried to keep his girlfriend from experiencing a drooling phenomena.

"We can't just let him win!" Tasuki protested. "Chichiri is _my _pet, not _his_. I bought him first with my own money, so he belongs to me, not some pampered spoiled brat who think she can take everything he wants!"

"Well, technically he's loaded," Hotohori noted, "and pretty much every legal authorities—the entire law itself even—is under his financial thumb. So, uh, technically he _can _take anything he wants."

"Kuso!" Tasuki growled as he slammed his fist on the bed, his eyes burning with rage. He knew he was of no power and no match to try fighting against a multimillionaire tycoon's son, but to allow him to get away with murder is beyond his tolerance point. He had to get Chichiri back. There's no telling what Chichiri would have to go through if he prolonged his stay there. He need to get him back as soon as possible, and he didn't care what the cost was.

"Calm down, Tasuki," Hotohori said as he laid the infuriated redhead back down. "You take a rest first. You've worked yourself out too much. You're gonna get yourself killed just stressing yourself out like this. What we need now is a plan. Let us help you worry about it, OK?"

"Yeah. We're the best tomodachi you can ever have, Tasu-chan," Nuriko said, still unable to get rid of the habit of calling him by his pet name. "We'll help you figure out something. Besides, Chichiri is a strong neko. He can hold his own until you get to him. Heiki, heiki ne?"

_You don't know how that tycoon bastard can break him, _Tasuki thought as he watched the gang leave his bedroom. _He almost broke me…_

--:--

"Chichiri-chan, where are you?"

Chichiri cringed at upon hearing Chiriko's voice. It had been at least a fortnight since the last time he met Tasuki and made that heartbreaking choice. Since then, outings and times alone with Chiriko was an everyday torture. He couldn't enjoy them as much as he used to when he first found himself in Chiriko's mansion. Every word Chiriko uttered sounded threatening to him, as if indicating that if he didn't comply with whatever Chiriko was saying, there would be hell for Tasuki to pay. He lived in constant fear whether Chiriko would do Tasuki in without him knowing it coming and he wished almost everyday that someone—anyone—would come and get him out of this hellhole.

It's not that help was not available. After asking Tasuki to rets and leave everything to them, husband and wife Hotohori and Nuriko and Tasuki's first two matched couples tried everything they could to get Chichiri out of his predicament. Hotohori tried the persuasive way by using a third person—his boss, as a matter of fact—to talk to Chiriko's father to persuade his son to return Chichiri, but without success. Chiriko's father was just way too busy to pay any attention to any miscellaneous request and Chiriko had counted on that. Nakago and Yui tried to bring in the law by using those that has the highest possibilities of not yet being tainted by Chiriko's wealth, yet because they weren't tainted by him, they were inexperienced in handling Chiriko and his way of life and they were no match for his power. Nuriko tried the sneaky way (despite her husband's protests) by dragging Tamahome and Miaka into secretly infiltrating the mansion and try to carry Chichiri out of his room but it seemed that Chiriko was prepared for such situation. They got busted within minutes and was spared from being charged and being thrown into the slammer by Chiriko's 'generosity'. Chichiri knew they've tried everything they could, and he was grateful for them; but it would take more than that to set him free from the little oni's grasp.

"Nande, Chichiri-chan? What are you thinking about?"

Chichiri looked away, pretending to be very interested with his ball of yarn. Another one of the finest yarn Chiriko flew in for him: a direct first finished product from China.

"Ne, Chichiri-chan," Chiriko went closer to CHichiri, picked him up and sat him on his lap. "Daijobu deska?"

Chichiri nodded half-heartedly, his eyes and hands never leaving the yarn ball.

"I hope you're enjoying your life here. We are going to be so happy together."

Chichiri forced a smile; his heart aching like it was being stabbed with a wad of nettles and being torn apart bit by bit. It felt both nauseating and suffocating to be held by the person who threatened to harm the one he loved.

"Anno…Chichiri-chan…"

Chichiri felt Chiriko touch his chin. Without warning, he felt the little boy's tiny lips on his. The feeling of his tongue lingering around inside his mouth made him wonder if Chiriko was really 12 years old. As Chiriko continued kissing him, he felt the boy's hands fondling with the buttons on his clothes, undoing them one by one. When he felt Chiriko's hands touching his bare chest underneath his clothes, it was the last straw. He knew where Chiriko was getting at and that was the last thing he would've wanted to happen to him. Almost immediately, he let out a shrill hiss and scratched Chiriko's shoulders, forcing him to let go. While Chiriko nursed his aching, throbbing shoulders, Chichiri quickly leapt about 3 feet away from him, settling himself at a corner of the room with the ball of yarn in his hand.

"Ku…Kuso!" Chiriko looked in horror at the bleeding scratch marks on his shoulders, then glared accusingly at Chichiri, "Teme! What the hell was that for? You're trying to give me feline rabies or something?"

Chichiri continued playing with the yarn ball, acting as if none of this had ever happened. Chiriko stormed towards Chichiri and glared long and hard at the man-cat who was pretending to be the innocent-looking neko he often portrayed.

"What the hell is your problem anyway? No matter what I do, it's just not enough, isn't it? I'm never gonna be good enough for you, am I?"

Chichiri didn't reply. His silence agreed with whatever he said.

"What is it that I lack, huh? What is it that you need, that I don't have? What does it take for me to make you like me? Isn't the fame, the fortune, the comfort, the luxury and everything else I have in here enough for you? What do I have to do to make you at least _pretend_ to like me just a little bit more? Aishiteru-ne, Chichiri-chan! Aishiteru! Why can't you see that?

"Doushite, Chichiri-chan? Why don't you like me, Chichiri-chan? Doushite?" Chiriko asked, grabbing Chichiri by the shoulders, only to be pushed away again with threatening hiss. "Why won't you like me? I have risked everything I have for you! I have done everything in my power to please you! I've given everything you needed and more! I'd give up anything for you! I even had to associate with the black sheep of the family just to rescue you from that commoner's hand! I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to get you out of your filthy life and be with me, right here where you belong! What else do you want?

"It's that Tasuki guy, isn't it? Your _master_, huh? What does he have that I don't? He treats you like shit, like nothing but a business tool, a pet, a nobody! You really believe he treats like aneki? Coz I'm not buying any of that! That's just bullshit! A load of crap! No one in their right mind would use their aneki to do the dirty work for them while they sit back, relax and enjoy the show! You belong to me! We are destined to be together, you and I! I knew it from the very first moment I saw you that we are meant for each other! Why can't you just accept that? Why can't you just admit that I'm right, and that it's not worth it to be with him? What is it that you see in him? What does _he _have that _I _don't? Tell me! Tell me!"

Chichiri remained silent. He would've told him if he could. He would've told him that no words can describe how he felt for Tasuki. He would've said that he was destined to be with Tasuki who would help out anyone in need, not Chiriko who misuse his wealth for his own benefits. He would've made it clear to him that no matter what Chiriko did and no matter how nice he treated him, he would never change his feelings and would never replace the Tasuki he had come to love.

But then again, being able to speak human and tell all this was a waste of time. Chiriko would've fallen into deaf ears anyway.

"If I can't have you, then no one will!" Chiriko said with a determined voice. He picked Chichiri up and lugged him on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and finished his words, "And I'll start with your dear ol' Tasuki-sama!"

Chichiri gasped in horror as he realized what he had just heard. Chiriko was indicating that he was going to eliminate Tasuki, the one he had come to love and yearn for ever since his capture in this mansion! No, he couldn't allow that! Chiriko was going to kill Tasuki and keep him as his prisoner forever! He couldn't let that happen! Tasuki is his one true love, and he would never let anything come to harm on him! He had to stop him!

Chichiri tried to struggle from Chiriko's grasp, but given the cat weight he had, he was no match to him, no matter how much he moved and no matter how big was he than Chiriko. Chiriko took a detour and entered the study, stomping all the way to the shelf where he stored his liquor. He fondled with something behind the shelf and pressed on a hidden switch. The shelf moved sideways, revealing a secret entrance with stairs leading downwards to an underground cellar. Chiriko didn't go all the way down, though. He stopped in the middle of the stairs and hastily flung Chichiri down the rest of it before going back up and slamming the shelf shut, closing the secret opening. If it weren't for Chichiri's inborn cats-always-land-on-their-feet genes, he would've suffered more than just bruises by now.

Chichiri mewed and clawed at the back of the liquor shelf that now occupied the secret opening, begging for Chiriko to let him out. He had to get out of there. He can't be left here in the dark while Chiriko goes over to Tasuki's home to do whatever he wants with him. Horrifying thoughts began to go through his mind as he tried to look for a way out: Tasuki bloodied from head to toe…stab wounds everywhere…his head decapitated beyond repair…him lying on his own pool of blood where no one was going to find out about him and leave him there to rot until the police find his remains of bones and bloody guts inside out…

Chichiri shook the horrifying imagination away. He had to get out of the place fast. There was no time to lose. He looked around for any means of escape. The underground cellar turned out to be storage for wine. Rather a right place to be behind a liquor shelf. There were racks upon racks of wine from all ages and brands imaginable, which is not really a surprising collection for someone who could even buy the entire grape vine field. There were other miscellaneous stuff lying around here and there, old and forgotten, but that was not the issue. Chichiri had to get out and fast, before it was too late. He continued looking around and soon discovered a tiny sliver of light. He quickly moved towards the light and saw that it was a small window leading to the high fence that came between the mansion yard and the outside world. Unfortunately even though he could definitely go through it, it was a built-in with no latches or locks to open. He tried looking elsewhere in vain. There just simply no other hole big enough for him to squeeze through. Even the mouse hole was just too small for his agile, flexible body to go through, let alone put in his entire hand. Just when he thought he was running out of options to get out, his cat eyes concentrated on the window again. If that was the only way out, what else has he got to lose? Tasuki was in trouble and he had to try.

He quickly gathered a few boxes that were lying around at a corner of the cellar so that he may be able to reach the window. Taking a deep breath, he made a leap for it and rammed his body onto the glass. It didn't work; not a dent was made on the window and Chichiri found himself headfirst on the floor. A long way from being the land-on-their-feet gene pool, but he wasn't going to give up just yet. Two, three tries and lots of bruises on his shoulder, head and dust on his face later, the glass finally had a spider web crack. Happy with the results, Chichiri continued to ram his body onto the crack, making it bigger and bigger until one final heave later, the glass finally crashed and Chichiri found himself clinging to dear life on the window sill. He winced a little when he realized he had his hands through shards of glass that stuck out of the sill but he didn't care if his hands were bleeding like hell. He was finally out, and that's all that mattered.

Now it's a matter of getting back home as quick as his neko legs could take him.

--:--

Tasuki lay on his bed, reminiscing about things. His wounds weren't that bad anymore, thus the lack of bandages and visible fresh scars, but his broken bones need more than just time to heal, thus the casts remains. He stole a look at the starry night beyond his bedroom window and sighed in dismay. The rescue attempt has yet become successful. Many times he had hoped good news from his fellow friends, but each time they came to visit him, he was disappointed with their empty-handed situation. They were either ignored, defeated, busted or even close to being prosecuted by Chiriko and his tycoon family. They couldn't press any charges on Chiriko's cousins Suboshi and Amiboshi because they were either defeated by the twins' lawyer or their hired untainted lawyer were just too insignificant in power to beat the mighty yen of Chiriko's wallet. They couldn't persuade him the peaceful way to let Chichiri go because Chiriko was not some simple person to reason peacefully with. They couldn't sneak him out of the house because it almost landed Nuriko, Tamahome and Miaka into deep law trouble the last time it happened. All in all, they were simply just not financially and mentally strong enough to defeat Chiriko, not even with Hotohori and Tasuki's current wealth.

"Chichiri…" Tasuki muttered to himself as he lay back on the bed. The house felt empty without his man-cat pet. Bedtime wasn't as peaceful as it used to be when there was Chichiri snuggled in his arms or his slight weight on his stomach whenever he sleeps. Eating meals weren't the same anymore as he was rather used to feeding bits and pieces of food to Chichiri and used to buy double portions. Clothes-changing didn't seem interesting anymore when there was no one to mix and match clothes or ask whether this shirt or that pants suited him. Bathing was another far cry because he was so used to having Chichiri in his arms and close to his chest and going through long hours of trying to scrub soap on him. In fact, everything he did with Chichiri that he used to take for granted seemed like something he was willing to give up his fortune for.

"Chichiri…I miss you so much…"

"Let me help you forget that."

Tasuki turned abruptly around to see Chiriko just right beside his bed. The little 12-year-old didn't look as innocent as the first time he saw him in the rare pet party. He looked even more evil and angrier than the last time they met. He was glaring down at him long and hard with vengeance and behind his back, he was holding a custom-made army knife.

"Na…Nani!" Tasuki almost jumped off his bed. "How did you get in here! What the hell are you doing here!"

"It doesn't take a genius to undo your locks in your home," Chiriko said as he flung away a few pins and a lock pick. "Standard issue and all. I think you know pretty well what I am doing here."

"Uh…Not exactly…" Tasuki muttered at first, then exclaimed when he saw Chiriko brandish his army knife at him, "What the fuck…You're not trying to do what I think you're trying to do, are you!"

"I am sick and tired of your existence! As long as you're here, Chichiri will never truly love me! He had been playing along with me and pretend to like everything I did for him, but all that he thinks about is you! He loves you more than I do! This is just not fair!"

Tasuki was at lost of words. Chichiri? In love with him? How can this be?

"We are destined to be together, Chichiri and I, not with a scumbag like you! He doesn't belong to you! He belongs to me! I will not let some commoner who passes off like a tycoon wannabe to capture _my _Chichiri-chan's heart! It's just not done! I love him! I love him too much to let him go off with you! I'm here to eliminate the competition, Tasuki-kun, if that's what it takes to make Chichiri love me!"

"Ma…Matte! Chotto matte yo!" Tasuki said, realizing that he was cornered and his broken bones limited his movement. "You don't want to do this!"

"Yes, I do, Tasuki-kun. I really do," Chiriko replied, the blade of the knife gleamed threateningly as it caught light.

Tasuki didn't know what else to do. He very well couldn't fight Chiriko because he's just a kid and Chiriko could turn things around to make it look bad for him instead of the other way round, and he could definitely not fight him with casts around his broken parts. The last time he risked his body to travel to Chiriko's house to have that encounter, the doctors said that those harsh movements almost caused his broken bones to sustain even more fractures and had warned him that if he goes around rampaging like a blind fool, he might as well say goodbye to normal walking and hello to the wheelchair. As Chiriko came even closer to Tasuki and raised the knife higher, he knew he was gone for.

"Say sayonara, Tasuki-kun," Chiriko's menacing whisper came as he swiftly brought the knife down. All Tasuki do at that split second was beg.

"Da…Dame! Dame! Yameru kudasai!"

The stab never came. Tasuki opened his eyes and saw that Chiriko's knife didn't hit him, but the shoulder of Chichiri, his man-cat pet!

"Chichiri!" Tasuki and Chiriko called simultaneously. Chiriko pulled out the knife in horror and watched as Chichiri moved painfully towards Tasuki, shielding him with his bleeding shoulder outstretched.

"Doushite…? Doushite, Chichiri-chan…?" Chiriko asked as he dropped the bloody knife, his body trembled in denial. "Why him? Why not me? Am I not worthy enough? Is my love for you not enough compared to his?"

Chichiri hissed and snarled at him, threatening to claw at him while still trying to shield Tasuki from him. He winced a little at the throbbing pain on his shoulder but that didn't stop him from protecting his master and his love.

"Don't you understand how much I love you, Chichiri-chan? If it means giving up everything I own, I'll do it, Chichiri-chan. You want me to live the same level as Tasuki-kun live, I'm willing to, if you could just believe our destiny and accept me…"

Chichiri backed away, still shielding Tasuki. Slowly, his arms held out backwards onto Tasuki's and hugged him. Tasuki slowly reached up his hands and place them onto the man-cat's shoulder, careful to avoid the bleeding part, his face slightly blushing. The feel of Tasuki's hands on him brought Chichiri close to tears, but he had to act strong. He couldn't break down in front of his enemy.

"You'd rather…choose him…than me…?"

Chiriko couldn't take this scene anymore. His heart broke in more ways than a normal 12-year-old could. His world where he built and revolved around Chichiri shattered into a million pieces. Chichiri had made his choice, and it wasn't him. With tears in his eyes, he picked up the knife and made a dash out of the house and into the dark night outside. As soon as his footsteps weren't heard, Chichiri's knees buckled in relief and the pain he felt on his shoulder came back in folds, his tears flowing freely out of his eyes.

"Chi…Chichiri!" Tasuki quickly carried him in his arms and took him to the bathroom where the medical kit was. "Daijobu deska, Chichiri?"

Chichiri mewed in pain, holding onto his bleeding shoulder. With his knowledge about first aid in high school, Tasuki took out the surgical needle and thread and nursed Chichiri's wound, applying antiseptic on it and sewing it and bandaging it while dumping his clothes into the laundry basket. When he took off the man-cat's socks, he realized that they were worn beyond repair and had to be dumped into the trashcan. Chichiri must've sped and climbed and jumped like crazy in order to reach home in time to stop Chiriko from stabbing Tasuki. Not only that, his soles have taken a lot of beating due to his rush to home as Tasuki saw part of them bleeding and bruising. He noticed the other cuts and bruises too due to Chichiri's attempt to escape the underground cellar. Tasuki's heart ached at seeing the wounds Chichiri had to endure just for him.

"You're going to take a bath and have some medicine, and you're not going to argue with me, you get me?"

Chichiri nodded at Tasuki's stern order without any protest. He quietly took his bath, let Tasuki nurse his other wounds and ate some medicine to avoid anything he might have caught through his wounds. Tasuki carried Chichiri with his free hand onto the bed and helped him dress in his nightclothes, and all the while Chichiri accepted everything Tasuki did for him without any fuss.

"Gomenasai…"

Chichiri mewed questioningly.

"You had to go through so much just for me. You chose to stay with Chiriko because you're scared that he might hurt me again if you chose me, that I know. You went through all that mental torture when you know it'll hurt me more than it'll hurt you. Just coming back here alone cost you so much physical pain. Gomenasai, Chichiri…I'm such a lousy master…"

Chichiri did something rather surprising at that moment. He reached over and touched Tasuki's cheek. He ran his hand through his hair and traced his finger on Tasuki's face. Slowly and tentatively, he quietly voiced out, "Ta…su…sama…"

Tasuki was taken aback. Chichiri spoke! Chichiri actually spoke! He reached over and had his hands on Chichiri's face, lost of words over Chichiri's loyalty towards him. Was that what Chiriko meant by Chichiri loving him? Was the kid right that everything Chichiri had done was because he loved him? As in more than just a master or a foster parent?

"Chichiri…that Chiriko kid said that you love me. Honto ni?"

Chichiri blushed and nodded, not daring to look at Tasuki directly.

"More than a master?"

Another nod.

"Yokatta…"

Tasuki slowly closed in and claimed Chichiri's lips. He was not going to lie to himself and he wasn't going to deny the truth any longer. He had been caring for him ever since he was just a wee kitten and had been worried about him ever since he bought him and made him his pet. He had developed a relationship with him throughout the years that were more than just master and pet, probably even more than just aneki. His erotic thoughts about him bathing wasn't just because of the booze, and his worries for him living with Chiriko and his insistence to save him from Chiriko was more than just a brotherly or a fatherly intention. No, it was more than that. It was so much deeper than that.

"Aishiteru, Chichiri…"

Slowly he removed the clothing he was about to wear on Chichiri. He removed his own clothing as he brought the man-cat higher up on the bed, all the while not removing his claim on Chichiri's lips. He reached over to the controls and switched off the lights of his bedroom and began fondling Chichiri's ear expertly with his tongue and giving him countless love bites on his neck, hearing Chichiri mewed in ecstasy. Chichiri had his hands on Tasuki's red hair and gripped tightly, taking in the pleasure his master was giving him. Tasuki's tongue games and love-biting advanced to his chest and the nipples on his breasts, then to his abdomen, then his bellybutton and finally to the neko's length itself. Chichiri let something that sounded like both a mew and a moan as Tasuki fluidly moved in and out of his manhood. The man-cat let his master take control of his body and played along with his foreplay. After all, how was he to know about human sex games?

After much foreplay, Tasuki searched for his opening with his fingers in the dark and entered him. Chichiri's breath hitched and let out a whine of both pain and pleasure as Tasuki continued to thrust into him, fresh tears flowing out of his eyes as his virgin broke. Tasuki hushed him and told him to relax as he moved in and out at a steady pace and dried his tears. Their bandages felt like they were going to come off but they didn't bother to adjust them. They both couldn't care less about the painful wounds on their bodies. All they cared about is that they threw away every denial they had in their minds and loved each other as they should be.

"Aishiteru, Chiri-chan…Aishiteru…"

Tasuki increased his speed as he heard from Chichiri's change of tone telling him that he had hit the neko's sweet spot. He nibbled at Chichiri's neck and entered deeper into him, stroking his length aligned with the rhythm of his thrusts. Chichiri planted his feline fangs onto Tasuki's shoulder and bit lightly, muffling his ecstatic moans as they grew higher and higher with each hit his love gave him onto his spot. Tasuki did the same with his protruding fangs on Chichiri's ears, pounding harder and deeper at every moan he made. He felt the neko gripping hard on his hair and his nails threatening to dig through his scalp but he didn't care. In fact, the tiny pain made him more aroused and he increased his thrusts even more. Time seemed to stop in their lovemaking as they both moaned and groaned and feel each other's touch, kiss and love between them. All the while they continued to enjoy the feeling of finally being joined as one.

"Tasu-sama…!"

"Chiri-chan…!"

Both let out a bass and treble groan as they climaxed.

A/N: Aww…I have to say kudos to the most rightful couple of FY! Three cheers! It's not the end of the story yet, so grab onto your seats and keep following up with the story coz the rest is gonna be so deliciously good! Ja-ne! Reviews plz!


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Now that Tasuki and Chichiri are officially together, things are going to look up, right? Not telling you! Gotta read on and find out for yourselves! Let's get on with the show, shall we?

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

PUSS, PUSS

Ever since that incident with Chiriko's attempted murder on Tasuki, everything sort of changed for the better. Chiriko had somehow stopped bothering Tasuki and Chichiri. The stalking stopped, the attack stopped, everything had stopped initially. Everyone, including the residents of Rekka-Shin Apartment, was glad that Chichiri was back with whom he should be with and they celebrated his return with an elaborate barbecue dinner party at the apartment compound. Every client Tasuki had helped and Mitsukake the pet shop owner himself were invited and everyone was really happy to see Chichiri back. Some of them (that includes Nuriko) fussed over him so much that Chichiri didn't think he could handle anymore suffocating attention as it is. They all congratulated Tasuki and applaud Chichiri for his bravery and loyalty and toasts were all for them that night.

Perhaps the happiest people on earth over this reunion were Tasuki and Chichiri themselves. Ever since their separation, they began to realize their true feelings towards each other. The time apart really taught them a lot about sacrifice, destiny and true love. They knew they needed each other too much to be apart ever again. The thought of it was just too cruel and unimaginable. Since that day, their relationship had upgraded from master-pet to secret koibito. Tasuki was finally healed of his wounds after long weeks of rehab and good-earned rest. Gone were the casts and bandages altogether, although I wouldn't say that their active sex life was actually part of the rehab. Everyday was a new sexual experience. It seemed like they could just shag each other senseless just about anywhere, with Tasuki being the seme, of course. They would still continue their matchmaking services, but as soon as Chichiri came home, the first thing he would do as soon as the client leaves was jump onto Tasuki and kiss him with a passion so deep, even the romance between Romeo and Juliet seemed to pale in comparison. This would definitely lead to undoing of clothes and unadulterated sex, with Tasuki's aggressive moves and Chichiri's soft murmurs of the only human word he could say, "Tasu-sama."

Just those words alone could send this feisty young redhead into a fleet of wanting.

Never mind if the others didn't know about their relationship; it was their little secret they mutually shared and it was enough for themselves to know it. They were in their own world drowning in their sea of passion and fruitful lovemaking and there was no telling when they were going to get out of it. It was their little secret paradise. Nothing could tear them apart anymore than Chiriko wanting Tasuki dead.

They were deeply in love now, and it's all that mattered.

--:--

"Tasu-sama…"

"Yes, Chiri-chan, call me that again…"

The two young lovers were at it again on the bed, with the lights out and only their moving silhouettes seen and their heavy breathing heard in the dark. Chichiri had a rather long day helping out a client trying to match-make him with this rather cold and dark woman who seemed to think that all men are useless and insignificant. She was a Eurasian blonde (half-American-half-Japanese) and the lady boss of one of the most successful companies under the Yakuza turf, specializing mostly on assassinating enemies and unwanted competition. The client is another Yakuza boss from a different state (not the most feared, but one of the wisest and most respected) and he had been dying to capture her heart, but so far, the lady boss prefer her job more than a life with a man she would never appreciate. If you ask me, she's more of the contentious and morbid kind of person who loathes life itself and wished to dominate everything within her grasp. It was the toughest nutshell to crack and so far, none of Chichiri's tactics are working, but the client was not going to give up on her, and he trusts Chichiri to work as his reputation claims so, so he was going to see him again tomorrow, which was what he had been saying every end of the day for the past two months now. Needless to say, a nice simple dinner of instant noodles, a long hot bath (which Chichiri finally stopped running away from) and a couple of massages from his Tasu-sama was enough to put him into a sexual mood.

Tasuki raised Chichiri's legs higher and pounded into him harder and deeper, trying to aim his sweet spot. Chichiri reached out and dug his nails into Tasuki's hands that held him, enjoying every second of pleasure he gave him. While Chichiri was out at work, Tasuki stayed home to check the accounts and reread all the files and watched all the videos of all his previous clients about more than 5 times over. Not because he wanted to enjoy his previous successes or look for any inspiration to help Chichiri with his current tough client, but because he wanted to feel Chichiri's presence. Seeing his clients talking to him and seeing him work through the camera's point of view made him feel like he was part of Chichiri, like he was with Chichiri and _was_ Chichiri at that particular moment. That was how much he missed Chichiri when he wasn't around. He was tempted to personally help out together with Chichiri with this mission, but clients seemed to want Chichiri's help more than Tasuki's help. They prefer the neko touch more than the human touch, and the man-cat's reputation precedes more than Tasuki's reputation. Sometimes Tasuki thought that maybe creating this business was a mistake, but seeing Chichiri enjoyed the job so much that kept him away from any intention to stop the business. He had to be content with imagining the presence of Chichiri while he reads the files that had Chichiri's picture with the clients' in it or while he watches the videos of his everyday life during missions.

"Ta…Tasu-sama…!" Chichiri breathed, his tone of voice slightly higher. His sweet spot was hit, and it was a feeling even more exhilarating than the effects of drugs.

"Yes…Yes…Say my name again…" Tasuki growled in delight as he kept aiming for the sweet spot, leaving countless lovebites on his lover's neck and chest.

"Tasu-sama…" Chichiri whispered again, letting out another ecstatic moan as Tasuki thrust even harder and even deeper. Just the sound of the neko's voice aroused Tasuki even more.

"Again…"

"Tasu-sama…!"

"Louder."

"Tasu-sama!"

"Louder, my little neko-chan. Louder!"

"Tasu-sama! Tasu-sama!"

"Say it like you mean it, Chiri-chan! Say it!"

"TASU-SAMA!"

"Oh, Chiri-chan…Ai…Aishiteru…Chiri-chan…!"

Both of them moaned, one after the other, as they made their release. It took them about 5 minutes straight to allow their final tremors subsided. Tasuki sighed and lay beside Chichiri, breathless and spent. Chichiri mustered whatever strength he had left and reached over to land in Tasuki's embrace. Tasuki closed in and kissed the neko's forehead.

"You know we're gonna get into a whole lot of deep shit if anyone were to know about us."

Chichiri mewed quietly in agreement. He knew that no matter how much they loved each other, there will still be people who are against this sort of odd relationship, let alone if he were to remain Chiriko's 'lover'.

"We'll cross the bridge when we get to it. I'll always be there for you no matter what."

Chichiri smiled and snuggled closer to Tasuki. Tasuki had always been his knight in shining armour. There was no telling why he should doubt that.

"Aishiteru, Chiri-chan."

"Ai…shi…te…ru…"

That was the second word Chichiri learnt how to speak.

--:--

"You should take your neko to the vet."

Those were the first words his Yakuza client spoke when he returned a very pale, very weak-looking Chichiri into Tasuki's hands. It had been almost three, four months in total since the last time he came into Tasuki's home and asked for Chichiri's help, yet so far the mission to woo the Dark Queen from Hell was still ongoing. That was one persistent client, if you ask me.

"Na…Nandeska…? What have you done to him! Did he not meet your expectations!" Tasuki asked in horror as he cradled Chichiri in his arms, fearing the worst of what the Yakuza client had done to him.

"Well, actually, he did meet some of it. I can assure you, there's no reason for me to poison him or anything," the client said as he held up his hands in surrender, indicating that he had nothing to do with his sick condition. "He was already as pale as a ghost the moment I took him from you. He couldn't keep anything I fed him down and he had to go hurling every 10 minutes in anything he could bury his face into. He even puked into the trashcan of my intended when he was suppose to help me deliver a bouquet of black roses—the latest craze in Japan botanics, though not yet in the market, I must say—and a box of dark chocolates to her. She's always the dark and mysterious type, so I thought I'd give her something that fit her nature.

"Like I said, he fouled up real bad when he gave the presents to my intended. She apparently anticipated his arrival but didn't expect he was going to hurl his guts out into her expensive Italian-made trashcan. She never made personal calls to anyone unless extremely necessary or if the case she gets was really big-scale, but today she actually made a call to my cellphone and asked me to pick Chichiri up because he was too sick to move. She's just as cynical and cold as ever, but we managed to have a small conversation while Chichiri slept on her lap out of nausea. I'm glad his sickness made a good turn in my case, but I have to say, I'm a bit concerned about him. This is not some normal food poisoning or any kind of sickness. It had to be something big. It's a surprise you didn't notice it at all."

He did notice Chichiri's condition. In fact, he was rather reluctant to let Chichiri carry on with the day's mission. He woke up one morning realizing that Chichiri was not in his embrace. He found him in the toilet heaving whatever was inside his gut and gasping for air when he wasn't vomiting. His face was paler than his usual fair complexion and he didn't seem too well to even move. But when the client came knocking on the door to pick Chichiri up, the neko immediately cleaned himself and walked up to the door, scratching it and giving Tasuki a begging look to open it. Tasuki had given him some mouthwash and gave him a lemon breath mint just in case his mouth smelt too much of vomit and asked him if he really wanted to go for work in his condition, but since Chichiri insisted on going, who was he to deny him? He asked the client to take extra care of him and worried the whole day for him and wondered whether he would be OK or not. Seeing Chichiri's condition now, his worst fear was realized.

"I promise you, there is nothing I did that made him as sick as this. Honto ni. He was already like that when I got to my intended's office. She criticized me of being so desperate that I would use an animal to do my dirty work even though it's that sick and that I could've been better than that. Well, you know, stuff like that which you can expect from a Yakuza hitwoman. No kind words ever come out of her mouth, but at least she did talk to me. Anyway, you should get your neko checked out. Make sure he doesn't get some sort of intestinal infection or something. I guess I won't be seeing you guys tomorrow then?"

"Make it at least a week later," Tasuki said. "If that Yakuza hitwoman has started talking to you that should be a good sign. That is, if it's OK with you."

"Heiki, heiki ne. No problem. Take your time. You can give a call to my driver when Chichiri is up and ready. Here's his cellphone number. I'll brief him later about it."

"Arigatogozaimas. If only all the, well, you know, Yakuza-s are as nice as you."

"They all are," the client replied with a grin. "It's the job which hardened their souls. I'm trying not to end up that way."

Tasuki bowed gratefully and closed the door as soon as the client left. Chichiri whined and had his hand clamped on his mouth, indicating that his guts were turning inside-out again. Tasuki quickly carried him into the bathroom and held his hair back as he puked whatever was still remaining inside his gut. The man-cat, after puking for almost 10 minutes or so, fainted out of exhaustion and it drove Tasuki into a fit of worry. Without a moment to lose, he grabbed his car keys and carried Chichiri straight into the car, driving at high speed to the family vet downtown.

--:--

"How is he?"

The family vet, Tokaki came out with a notepad and a rather amused look on his face. He had been Tasuki's family vet ever since Tasuki bought Chichiri from Mitsukake and took him for his first check-up. Tokaki and wife Subaru had been running this respectable vet for almost 10 years now since they graduated from university and there is no other more reliable vet than theirs.

"How long did you say he has been like this?" Tokaki asked as he read through his notepad.

"Actually he only started puking and looking this sick the whole day today. Before that, he was fine," Tasuki explained. He craned his neck to see if Chichiri was alright inside the ward but Tokaki was blocking the view.

"Does he take nightly walks by any chance?"

"Well, not exactly," Tasuki said, feeling rather sheepish about their nightly 'activities' together. "Aside from going out helping clients on his matchmaking missions, he seldom goes out at night. He's usually home with me."

"Well, in that case, next time you send your little man-cat on a matchmaking mission, tell your clients to make sure he's got a leash on because your man-cat is about 2 and half months pregnant."

"P…Pregnant…?" Tasuki felt as if Godzilla just trampled smack right on his head.

"Yes, he's pregnant. I had advised you to have him 'fixed' but since you didn't want to, well, this is what you get. Although I have to say, what kind of a cat would fall for a cross-species like him? Unless he's been hanging with other man-cats like him, which is quite unlikely because it's so rare and expensive to buy…"

"Matte, matte, chotto matte yo!" Tasuki exclaimed, stopping the sun-kissed vet from rambling on about his theories. "My man-cat is a male! Do you expect me to believe that a male can have babies! That's impossible!"

"Of course it's impossible, unless you're a hermaphrodite. You should know that there are side-effects when the scientists decided to play kamisama over nature. When they merged neko and ngin-gen DNA, what they didn't expect was that such merging would cause a mutation in the chromosome, namely the part that determines the gender, thus all man-cats are born hermaphrodites. From there, it depends on which man-cat is the seme or uke. If they remain as one of the roles for the rest of their lives, the seme will automatically become male forever due the chemical balance in the mutated chromosome genes after long-term sex play and the uke will remain hermaphrodite. But if both decide to shag each other, then they will both remain hermaphrodite until one of them decides to become a seme for life. Looks like your man-cat is not getting his head on the matchmaking mission properly now, is he? He managed to matchmake himself, I presume?"

"Here you go, Tasuki-kun," Subaru came out of the ward with Chichiri in her arms. Chichiri looked a little better now, but his face was showing signs of awkwardness and guilt. He dared not to look at Tasuki when Subaru handed him to his master. Subaru then handed him a brown bag containing round yellow marble-sized balls.

"Those are sour mints," Tokaki pointed out. "Just like any pregnant woman, they will tend to puke at the first trimester. Pop one in his mouth whenever he feels like wanting to stuff his face into the toilet bowl. Do not feed him any solids until he starts having cravings for it. Come back if you run out of sour mints."

"How would the baby, I mean the kitten…" Tasuki tried to get all the facts right.

"Oh, simple. When a man-cat gets pregnant, there would be vaginal opening just right between the sacs and the butt. It would only appear when pregnancy occurs. Other than that, you won't even know it exists. The vaginal opening would shrink by itself about a month after birth, but be sure not to traumatize it during that time period, or it might lead to severe bleeding."

"Uh…Is there any way to…?" Tasuki was about to ask but Subaru beat him to it.

"Abortion? Sorry, we're vets and we're here to save lives, not terminate them, unless the animal is beyond medical help and is going to die one way or another. And I'm sure other clinics wouldn't do abortions on man-cats. They wouldn't even know where to begin. Only we vets are equipped with the knowledge of man-cat anatomy and from there, we educate our pet owners about it. Normal clinics and hospitals wouldn't bother for such things."

Tasuki sighed and nodded. Cradling Chichiri carefully in his arms like someone would with fine china, he thanked the vet couple and left with the sour mint in his pocket.

"Have a nice day!" Tokaki called after him. "Be sure to bring him here for check-up every month!"

"You knew about it all along, didn't you?" Tasuki asked as soon as he was outside the vet entrance.

Chichiri blushed. He dare not reply.

Tasuki sighed again. Propping him better, he walked to the car and drove him all the way home without saying a word.

--:--

Tasuki sat in the living room contemplating about his predicament. He had paid a visit to Mitsukake to ask about Chichiri's anatomy he had kept secret from, and Mitsukake swore he had no idea about man-cats' true anatomy. He claimed that he received Chichiri about a few days after his birth from the vet who caused his blind eye and was asked to keep silent about him coming and giving him Chichiri. Apparently the inexperienced vet felt so guilty and afraid that he would get fired for causing that accident that he lied to the head vet that Chichiri was stillborn before smuggling him out and giving him to Mitsukake to get rid of the evidence of his carelessness. The vet never even bothered to educate him about man-cat anatomy until Tasuki came to tell him about it. Mitsukake planned to compensate Tasuki but Tasuki kindly refused. It was enough for him to know that Mitsukake was not at fault for his ignorance.

The young redhead didn't know what to do. He was so inexperienced in this. He had his share of an active sex life just like any of his pals back in high school but none of them came up to him with this problem. It was like one minute he was just some regular guy settling down with a great relationship and then next minute he was a father, and to a bunch of would-be man-kittens no doubt. Everything was so new to him and he didn't know what to do or what to expect. It wasn't that he wasn't happy being a father—hell, the man-kittens were his and are inside his beloved, for goodness sake—but it all happened rather fast. It kinda caught him off guard.

"Tasu-sama."

Tasuki looked up to see Chichiri looking at him with a worried face. Since he found out about the news, he hardly said a word to his little koibito for a while. He had made the call to the Yakuza boss's driver telling him about Chichiri's pregnancy, and the driver relayed his boss's message to him saying that it was alright to put the mission on hold and that he will receive the first half of his paycheck by the next week as Chichiri's medical expenses. He was so deep in thought about what he was supposed to do with his current predicament that he didn't acknowledge Chichiri during that time. He did remember to feed the sour mints and non-solid foods to Chichiri but that was it. They haven't said anything to each other.

"Ah…Gomenasai…I was rather deep in thought…Nande, Chiri-chan?"

Chichiri held out a thick book to him. Tasuki took it and saw that it was the yellow pages. He didn't understand the gesture.

"Err…Doushite? Why are you giving me this?"  
Chichiri pointed at the book, then at his stomach.

"What? Is there something wrong with the kittens? You want me to call the vet?"

Chichiri shook his head, then took the book and, without warning, hit his abdomen with it, shocking Tasuki off his hair.

"Nandayo! What are you doing, Chiri-chan!"

Chichiri repeated his actions, earning a "Yameru!" from Tasuki, then handed the book again to Tasuki, gesturing him to do the same. Tasuki finally got the horrifying idea.

"Ma…Masaka…?"

Chichiri nodded, then hit himself again and again to prove his point until Tasuki ran over and grabbed the book away.

"Yameru! Yameru kudasai! Yameru, Chiri-chan! This is not what I had in mind!"

Chichiri hugged his abdomen, looking away and not wanting Tasuki to see his brimming tears.

"You mean you're willing to give up those kittens…for me…?"

Chichiri nodded. Tasuki trembled. His heart felt as if it was being clenched by a nutcracker. Chichiri had went through so much for him and had gone through both physical and mental torture just for him, and now he was doing it again by willing to let Tasuki hit him with the yellow pages just so that he would not be troubled by the man-kittens inside him. His loyalty was beyond compare. Nothing could challenge this. And it broke Tasuki's heart so much to see this. Tasuki finally broke into tears and held Chichiri tightly in his embrace.

"Ie, Chiri-chan, ie! I will not allow you to let me kill our babies! They're mine too! I have no right to kill them and you have no right to allow me such act! They're _my _babies! Mine! Even if you don't want them, they're still mine! I beg of you, please don't kill our babies. It was just a spur of the moment when I thought about abortion but I never really meant to get rid of our babies. I was taken a little by surprise but I would never, ever think about harming our babies. Our babies, Chiri-chan. Yours and mine, a family. Aishiteru, Chiri-chan! Aishiteru-ne! I want to have a family with you. There's nothing more I would ask for. Please don't deny me that…onegai…onegai…"

"Tasu-sama…" Chichiri's trembling voice and his arms around him indicated that he, too, agreed with what Tasuki said.

"I promised you that I will always be with you no matter what, and I promised that we will cross the bridge when we get there. I will do as I promised, and I won't ever abandon you. Please…don't kill our kittens…please…I beg you…onegai…"

"Aishiteru, Tasu-sama…" Chichiri said as he claimed his lover's lips, a deep, passionate kiss to end all ill intentions.

A/N: Dang! Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well, at least Tasuki is not shirking his responsibilities or anything. What's gonna happen next? You gotta follow up and check it out for yourselves. Don't ask me, I'm still working on the next chappie! I hope I got the names of the Byakko characters right. I have jot down their names and I was just trying to figure out who is who that were outside the Suzaku team. Tell me if I've done it wrong and I'll fix it ASAP. Alright, on with the next chappie! Reviews plz!


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: OK, now that Chichiri's up the duff, how is their life gonna be then? Let's read on and see what happens. Thanks for all your support so far. On with the show now!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

PUSS, PUSS

"Damn! Now I don't know whether to say 'omedetou' or 'bakayero'."

Tasuki was in Hotohori and Nuriko's new home—a nice double-storey bungalow which was situated just a few streets away from Rekka-Shin Apartment so that Nuriko could still go over and collect rent every month while checking up on things. Hotohori had earned enough to move out and they had a rather simple housewarming party to celebrate the move. Now Tasuki, with Chichiri in his arms, was sitting on the sofa of their Western-designed living room and had just done confessing his deep, dark secret of his affair with his man-cat and was waiting for Nuriko and Hotohori's reaction over this.

"I just don't know who else to turn to. I had to let someone know about this, or I might just burst trying to keep this all in to myself. You're the only people I can trust."

"I see what you mean but…" Nuriko laughed nervously and shook her head. "Damn, Tasuki, I mean you and Chichiri…omae, shinjiru narenai ne…"

"Are you sure? I mean, about keeping the kittens?" Hotohori asked in concern. "Having a secret affair with your pet is one thing, but to have kids with it, it's just…well…"

"Unheard of?" Tasuki finished his sentence. "I know we shouldn't even be indulging into this stuff, not like what Chiriko had done, but somehow it was because of Chiriko that we finally realized our feelings for each other. God, I'm beginning to feel like I'm turning into Chiriko the 2nd or something."

"Nonsense, Tasuki!" Nuriko scolded as she slapped him on the shoulder. "You are nowhere near Chiriko the 2nd. His feelings for Chichiri were purely possessiveness and not true love. He wanted to keep Chichiri for himself without ever thinking about what would happen if he were to be found out or even Chichiri's future for that matter. You, on the other hand, knew what you're up against and you're willing to risk everything for it. You're even willing to let Chichiri keep the kittens even though you know that sooner or later it would land you into trouble. Now that's true love. I bet if Chiriko were to be into the situation as you are right now, he would've forced an abortion solution down Chichiri regardless if it was consumable for animals or not."

"She's right, Tasuki," Hotohori chided in. "It's a very brave and honourable thing you did just now. Not a lot of men are willing to take the responsibility of fatherhood for their spouses. They would just hand in the paycheck to their partners and run off without saying sayonara. They wouldn't even do it for their human spouses, let alone someone who a total different species from you. You're better than they are put together."

"Arigatogozaimas…You guys understand my situation so much…"

"Hey, our situation are pretty much the same queer level as yours," Nuriko winked humorously. "Of course we understand your situation. I must say, I envy your Chichiri being able to conceive. Maybe I should consider another surgery to make myself a hermaphrodite too or something…"

"I'm just glad you are what you are now," Hotohori grinned as he sweatdropped. "Remember we're still in line for adoption."

"Yeah, but it still sounds cool having your own flesh and blood. So, how far is he now?"

"About 2 and a half months, coming to 3," Tasuki said as he lay a hand on Chichiri's slightly grown tummy. "The vet said Chichiri's pregnancy would last for about 7 month, give or take, and there could be at least 4 kittens inside him."

"Four! Oh, how sweet! You guys are gonna be quadruplets' parents! Isn't it sweet, Hoto-chan?"

"It sure is."

"Minna-san…You are the only people alive who know about this. Not even the vet knows who the real father is, so, uh, I would appreciate it if…"

"Don't worry," Nuriko said as she made a lip-sealing gesture. "Your secret is safe with us."

--:--

Chiriko sat in the study with liquor bottles displayed all over on the table. He had practically emptied the shelf of its contents and had started working on the booze one by one. And if that's not enough, he even went down to the underground cellar where he store the wine and where he tried to keep Chichiri prisoner and brought up every wine he could get his hands on and finished them all one by one. So far, half of the stored wine in the underground cellar was down his gut.

The 12-year-old boy genius tycoon was a wreck. Ever since he saw from Chichiri himself that he was not his choice of a koibito, everything his world ever revolved in crumbled down. Nothing else seemed to interest him anymore. He stopped going to work, letting his second-in-command help run the show, and he became a total recluse. He refused to talk to friends or family and would only ask for his servants when he was hungry or if he needed his bath prepared. Sometimes he could go for days without eating or sleeping until his butler had to force feed and drag him into the bathroom. His otosan and okasan did try to ask him how he was doing and what was it that made him so anti-social nowadays, but seeing that their son wasn't talking, they shrugged their shoulders and went back with their businesses, hoping that time would heal his wounds. Looks like it was back to the lonely life he used to lead for years to come.

He had been leading a lonely life ever since he was born and diagnosed as a child prodigy. Everyday was the same: waking up, going to school and be envied at for being smarter than they are and occasionally bullied, winning competitions and getting both admiration and hate mail at the same time, coming back to an empty house where his otosan maybe on another business trip and his okasan on another social gathering party, then when he started working, having to manage so many incompetent people and attend so many meetings until even his brain juice gets drained, and then the day starts all over again. Ever since he saw Chichiri that fateful day at Mitsukake's Lil' Petshop, his life changed. He had something—someone, to be exact—to look forward to. He had found someone who made his life worth living for. He finally found the purpose he had long been seeking ever since he began to understand life. His monotonous life never seemed that boring anymore as he had a mission, a goal to reach: to have Chichiri to complete the missing half of his life. Having Chichiri by his side was the happiest thing that ever happened to him. And now it was gone. All gone. And his life was back to the way it used to be—monotonous and meaningless.

It's true when the saying goes, 'The person you love the most is the one who can hurt you the most.'

As he was about to pour another glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, he suddenly felt a tug at his hand that held the glass, flinging the poor thing and crashed it into a million pieces. Someone else grabbed the wine bottle from his hand and dragged him along with the other person holding his other hand. They both dragged the kicking and screaming intoxicated Chiriko down the long hallway and into his president-suite style bedroom and all the way into his already filled Jacuzzi bathtub. With one strong shove, Chiriko found himself submerged into the icy cold water and struggling to breathe. In the midst of his struggle underwater, he could hear the muffled voices talking to each other amusingly above his head.

"Are you sure this is going to work, oni-chan?"

"I'm sure, ottota. This would definitely clear his head a little. It always works in the movies. Just a few more seconds will do."

Sure enough, a few seconds later (which felt like an eternity to Chiriko), the two strangers pulled Chiriko out of the water. Chiriko coughed and spluttered, trying to blink away the water that were still in his eyes and see who the bastards that almost killed him were. They were no other than his black-sheep-of-the-family cousins Amiboshi and Suboshi.

"Ku…Kuso!" Chiriko gasped and tried to force himself to vomit out some of the water he had swallowed. "What the fuck do you think you're doing! Are you guys trying to kill me or something? God, I think I got a headache! I need a drink…"

"Okawari, oni-chan?" Amiboshi asked with mischief in his tone.

"Hai, ottota," Suboshi nodded before quickly dunking Chiriko's head back into the bathtub. This time they held him down longer and watched and laughed as Chiriko flung and tossed and turned frantically to get out of his tight situation and avoid drowning. About more than 20 seconds later, they finally pulled the poor Chiriko out and flung him a towel at his face to dry up. Chiriko went into another fit of coughing, spluttering, induced vomiting and gasping for breath before taking the towel to wipe his face. Suboshi and Amiboshi gave each other a high-five and shared the bottle of wine they confiscated from Chiriko.

"Need a drink?" Amiboshi asked jokingly.

"No, thank you very much," Chiriko glared at him grudgingly. "I think I'm awake now."

"Wanna make sure?" Suboshi asked, jerking his head towards the Jacuzzi.

"Don't even think about it," Chiriko muttered. "What the hell are you two doing here anyway? And what was that for? If you want a drink you can always just ask. No need to make a drowned victim out of me. Not that I'm gonna stop you or anything."

"Of course you're not gonna stop us," Amiboshi replied as he took a sip out of the bottle. "Look at yourself. You barely even know we came into the room until we grabbed you. We knocked the door just as you asked us to, but you didn't seem to hear us. We had to sober the booze out of you somehow."

"Besides, we wouldn't have done this if your okasan didn't ask for our help," Suboshi said as he poked the 12-year-old's head. "She was pretty worried about you. She mentioned about your sudden reclusive attitude during one of our performances in another of her fancy tea parties, and she assumed that we're pretty much very close since we actually and _finally _are in speaking terms. She wanted us to see if we could do something about your condition, and well, here we are!"

"I shudder to think that I have to thank you for this," Chiriko murmured, taking off his wet clothes. "I never thought that okasan would even bother to acknowledge me. She seemed to be too busy with her social gatherings and her so-called missionary work to give me or otosan any loving thought. Surprising that she's still even married to otosan. Damn, I think I need a bath too."

"You'd be even more surprised than you think you are," Amiboshi said as he toasted the bottle at him. He grinned as he watched Chiriko taking off his underwear. He gestured it to his twin and he looked at him too with earnest. Chiriko realized he was being watched and quickly brought a towel around his lower body.

"Chotto do mitaiyo, minna-san. I'm trying to take a bath here."

"Hey, no problem," Suboshi shrugged as he moved away from the Jacuzzi and gestured Chiriko to get in. "Just pretend we're not here. We're used to such stuff. We've seen worse, you know."

"Yeah," Amiboshi agreed as he wrapped his arm around his twin affectionately and kissed his cheek tenderly. "We've definitely seen worse. Yours don't surprise us one bit. Just pretend we're not here."

"Do your parents know about you two?" Chiriko asked, wrinkling his nose in disgust at their display.

"Oh, come on, incest is not that uncommon," Suboshi returned his brother's kiss. "You should've seen those history photos we researched on the China war. Damn, when those brothers and cousins who were together in war got caught in the middle of the cold storm, the skin they exposed to keep each other was just colossal! Definitely out of this world, I can tell you that."

"Oni-chan, come to think of it, we haven't had a bath since our last performance just now at the school fair. How's about we have a little dunk in ourselves too?" Amiboshi asked as he watched Chiriko refilling the tub with warm water and adding bathing scent powder and bath bubble solution.

"Ottota, you know it's not nice to dunk in without our cousin's permission. It's his house after all. We can always use the bathroom in the guestroom."

"But his bathroom looks nicer, way much more posh than the guestroom's. Onegai…"

Suboshi let out an exaggerated sigh and gave Chiriko who was now in the tub sighing as he slowly lowered himself into the warm water, "Chiriko? Is it OK if…?"

"Don't even think about it," Chiriko glared at him.

"Oh, come on, cousin. If you don't, I won't hear the end of it from my ottota…"

"Don't you 'oh, come on' me, Suboshi. First you guys tried to persuade me into following your so-called 'detour', which got me into this depressing situation, then you tried to drown me for no particular reason whatsoever, then you flaunt me with your incest behaviour, now you want to share a tub with me. Ie, my cousins. I may not have anything against your choice of relationship—I know mine is out-of-the-ordinary enough—and I'm willing to forgive you for sharing my booze without my permission and suggesting that stupid 'detour' idea in the first place, but I'm not going to continue fraternizing with the likes of you two by indulging to your whims and fancies ever again. You got me into this mess and you guys sure as hell are not going to help me get out of it, so just go away and leave me alone! Konaide, the both of you! The guestroom bathroom is just downstairs, if you must."

"Alright," Suboshi shrugged and looked apologetically at Amiboshi who was pouting, "I tried, ottota dearest. He just doesn't want us around. I suppose we'll have to take our bath in the guestroom."

"Do we have to…?" Amiboshi whined.

"Shikatanaiwa, ottota. I suppose the news about Chichiri's update has to wait."

"Nani? Is there something wrong with Chichiri?"

The twins smiled secretly to each other. They've finally got Chiriko's attention. Their third person conversation always does the trick. They pretended not to hear Chiriko and was prepared to leave when Chiriko stopped them in their tracks.

"Chotto matte yo! What happened to Chichiri? Is there something bad going on? Did Tasuki-kun mistreat Chichiri in any way? You gotta tell me! I need to know!"

"Then is the offer still open?" Amiboshi asked eagerly.

Chiriko hesitated for a while. He should've known this was another one of their traps to give in with what they want. No wonder his otosan didn't like their family. Just as manipulative and conniving as their good-for-nothing, music-loving otosan, his otosan used to say whenever they had to chance to eat together in the dinner table like a real family. But he needed to know about Chichiri. He had been such a recluse for so long that he hadn't heard word about Chichiri's progress with Tasuki. He was too overcome with grief and heartbrokenness to even want to know about Chichiri. He assumed that he must've been leading a wonderful life without him in the picture. Now that someone was willing to give him a small piece of news from his beloved, how could he resist?

"I know I'm gonna regret this," Chiriko muttered as he made way for the twins to undress and jump in. They did just that. Almost seconds later, you could see two naked young teenagers enjoying the bubbly Jacuzzi bath with a minute pre-teen sitting just across them, looking at them both in awkwardness and annoyance.

"Come on, cousin. Don't give us that look," Suboshi said as he took a sip of the wine bottle he was still holding before passing it to his twin. "We only meant the best for you."

"Spare me the sappy stuff," Chiriko growled. "Just tell me what I need to know."

"You're not going to like it though," Amiboshi warned.

"Spit it! Hayaku!"

"You asked for it," Suboshi sighed and shrugged in mock defeat. "You see, our poor Afghan-breed dog got a little cold two days ago and we sent him to the vet. You know, the one opened by two of your otosan's high school classmates husband and wife Tokaki and Subaru? Well, as they examined our Afghan, we had a little small talk and sharing gossips and all that and we suddenly discovered something rather interesting."

"It turned out that our Tasuki-kun," Amiboshi paused to take a sip from the wine bottle before continuing, "our Tasuki-kun had brought Chichiri to the vet almost near closing time in a state of emergency. Poor Chichiri looked like he seen a ghost or something, coz he was as pale as one and he was in a bout of fever and vomiting and all that. Subaru gave him an injection to stop the vomiting urge and did a check-up on him with Tokaki while Tasuki-kun waited outside. When the results came out, even we were in for a shock."

"Nande? Nandeska? What happened to Chichiri?" Chiriko asked worriedly. "Tumour? Cancer? Virus? Flu? Just cut the chase and tell me what the hell is going on!"

"Are you sure you want to hear this?" Suboshi asked.

"Suboshi…" Chiriko growled warningly.

"Oni-chan, stop playing with him," Amiboshi slapped his twin's chest playfully. "He's really worried, you know. You see, Chiriko-chan, Tokaki was rather reluctant to tell us coz of all the patient confidentiality and all. But after we swore that we wouldn't tell—we had our fingers crossed, of course—they revealed to us that…"

"Your dear ol' Chichiri-chan's pregnant," Suboshi finished his twin's word and they both waited for Chiriko's expected reaction.

"P…Pregnant…?" Chiriko stared at each twin in disbelief. "I…Ie…It can't be! Uso! You're lying!"

"I wish we were, but it's the truth, cousin dearest. Tokaki explained to us about the real anatomy of man-cats and basically, they're all born hermaphrodites, so it is possible for Chichiri to get pregnant. Rather complicated stuff, but we pretty much get the picture on how man-cats' mating and reproducing ritual goes. Looks like your little Chichiri took his blissful moment one step further," Amiboshi said with a sly tone. Definitely not the kind of tone to lighten the situation.

"Ottota, that's just mean," it was Suboshi's turn to slap his twin's chest. "But honestly, Chiriko, it really doesn't take a genius to figure out to whom those kittens inside Chichiri belongs to, you know."

Chiriko didn't need to think too far of what had already hit home. His face darkened and his eyes seemed like there was fire burning behind it. Anger seemed to churn and boil within Chiriko as he thought about how Tasuki violated and impregnated his Chichiri who was meant for him. If he had known better and earlier about Chichiri's anatomy, he would've beaten Tasuki to it. Now the kittens inside Chichiri that was supposed to belong to him belonged to his most hated enemy.

This was an unacceptable reality for him.

"I want Chichiri back, no matter what it takes, and I want that lousy bastard son of a bitch eliminated with whatever means necessary," Chiriko breathed his words with a vengeance. The twins gave each other a knowing smile.

"Thought you would never ask," Suboshi grinned.

"Don't worry, cousin dear, we have it all under control." Amiboshi said as he handed Chiriko the bottle of wine which Chiriko drained within minutes. "We feel your pain as soon as we heard the news; we would want nothing more than to help you. Suboshi already has a plan. Just leave everything to him."

"But our help comes with a price though. We didn't ask you the last time, and we want it now."

"Oni-chan, you don't mean…?" Amiboshi asked with an eager, seductive smile on his face, with his twin nodding in reply.

"Anything. Name your price," Chiriko replied without hesitation.

Suboshi and Amiboshi exchanged looks before coming towards Chiriko. Without warning, Chiriko could feel the twins' hands caressing his body and fondling his length. Chiriko's breath hitched as he felt one of the twins' hands gripping his length and adding pressure to it every second. Amiboshi reached over and suckled his nipples in turn, while Suboshi leaned over to nibble Chiriko's ear.

"Ami…Subo…" Chiriko couldn't speak coherently with the sensation he's being bombarded with. "Nani…?"

"I'm sure you understand by now," Suboshi said as he carried Chiriko and sat him on his lap, "what kind of price we're asking for."

"Non-negotiable," Amiboshi added as he clambered over to take Chiriko's cock into his mouth.

Chiriko tried to suppress his moan as Amiboshi bobbed his head, moving fluidly in and out of his small length that barely reached required maturity. As the younger of the twin continued to give the young tycoon a blow-job, his free hands reached up to pluck at his elder brother's nipples, who in turn reached down to massage the tycoon's breasts. A bite on Chiriko's ear from Suboshi released the moan and loosened his tongue.

"I see…where you're getting at…" Chiriko whispered between ecstatic moans and groans, the sensation so new and exhilarating to him. He closed his eyes to gather himself before saying, "Well, nothing else can scare or surprise me anymore. Just promise me you'll do as I asked and as you've promised."

"You have our word," Suboshi breathed down Chiriko's ear and licked at his earlobe.

Soon, both high and low moans and groans could be heard beyond the posh bathroom door.

--:--

Tasuki and Nuriko were chitchatting on their way back to Tasuki's home, with Chichiri piggyback-riding Tasuki. They met just at the entrance of Tokaki's vet and found out from each other that Tasuki had just taken Chichiri for his monthly checkup and got another refill of sour mints and that Nuriko was just doing another one of her shopping sprees to find something to decorate the nursery room. Turned out that the adoption agency approved Nuriko and Hotohori's application and was going to fly them to Russia to receive their new baby son, and that Nuriko was really anxious to have the nursery room set up before the flight day. Since Tasuki didn't drive to the vet, Nuriko decided to walk home with him to keep him company.

As soon as they reached Tasuki's home, they were greeted by the presence of tons of cameramen and reporters. When the crowd noticed his arrival, they all rushed towards him like bees to honey, bombarding him with question after question.

"Are you Tasuki-san?"

"Is that your pet Chichiri?"

"We've heard sources saying that you are having an affair with your pet, is that true?"

"Some say that the kittens your man-cat is carrying belongs to you. Any comment on that?"

"Did you really impregnate your cat, Tasuki?"

"Na…Nani…? What's all this…?" Tasuki said as he held Chichiri protectively. He turned to Nuriko who was spreading her arms to shield them away from the ravenous press, saying, "Nuriko, did you…?"

"No! I told no one! I swear!" Nuriko replied, shaking her head profusely. Her action prompted the press to aim their mikes at him, questioning her as well.

"Tasuki-san?"

The trio turned in horror to see a uniformed officer wearing a pair of dark glasses coming up to him, hands on his hips. Behind him were a few other officers with rods and handcuffs ready and two other people dressed in hospital attendant suits coming out of a truck that bore the Japanese words that translated 'Animal Humane Society'.

"Ha…Hai…Nande…?" Tasuki asked tentatively.

"Tasuki-san, you are under arrest for practicing bestiality. Please surrender your pet to the Animal Humane Society and come with us."

"Wa…Wait a minute! Chotto matte! What are you doing!" Tasuki asked in horror as the AHS men in hospital attendant suits came over and pried Chichiri off his back. He tried to resist and Chichiri tried to hang onto his master for dear life, but it seemed that their strength was no match against the strength of two men who had carried heavier animals than Chichiri. Within minutes, Chichiri and Tasuki were separated and Tasuki soon found himself being handcuffed and Chichiri brought towards the AHS truck.

"Tasu-sama? Tasu-sama!" Chichiri called after him. Tasuki turned to the officers arresting him.

"What are they doing? What are they gonna do to my Chichiri?"

"That'll have to depend on them. If you ask me, I'd think it proper if they terminate the freak of nature your so-called pet carries inside him. I shudder to think what would come out of it. If I were you, I'd worry about myself. Get in the car!"

"No, no, don't! Please don't hurt him!" Tasuki yelled after the AHS people who were ready to put Chichiri into the truck, struggling to break free from the officers' hold on him. "Please, don't kill our kittens! Please! I beg of you! Leave him alone! He's got nothing to do with this! Please! Let him go! Don't kill our kittens! Please! Onegai!"

"You make me sick," one of the officers said in disgust and whacked him with a rod. "Get in the car now!"

"Don't worry, Tasu-chan!" Nuriko yelled after him as she reached for her cellphone. "We'll get you guys out of this!"

"Tasu-sama! Tasu-sama!" Chichiri yelled as he was forced into a built-in cage inside the back of the truck.

"Chiri-chan! Chiri-chan!"

"TASU-SAMA!"

"CHIRI-CHAN!

A/N: Oh noooooooooooooooo! This is bad! Totally bad! What would happen next! I can't tell you that! I already fear the worst as I write the next chappie! Just continue reading and tell me what do you think about this predicament. Reviews plz!


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: So sorry for the long update. I was attacked by WBS (Writer's Block Syndrome) and all sorts of emotional ailments, coupled with work and part-time studying stress. Now let's see what's going to happen with this really rocky relationship between Tasuki and Chichiri which has just gotten rockier than it should, no thanks to Chiriko! Forgive me if some of the law term that might appear here does not fit; I'm not much of a law person. More of a lover of law and courtroom drama maybe, but not the law and its terms themselves. Read on!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

PUSS, PUSS

"Order, order! This court will be in order!"

The crowd in the courtroom quiet down by the sound of the judge hammering on a small round platform with the famous court wood hammer. The entire courtroom was packed with people young and old—actually most of them young—and were discussing hotly with each other, making the courtroom as noisy as a busy day in the market even when the bailiff announced the judge's arrival. Their topic of discussion? Tasuki, who was sitting at the right table of the front part of the courtroom with his lawyer.

Word of Tasuki's affair with Chichiri spread like wildfire, what with the sudden paparazzi and press invasion and the arrival of police officers and the AHS team members. Everyone in Japan heard about it through newspapers, tabloid magazines, radio, TV and the internet, and it was known almost worldwide. It was the news of the century. Bestiality may not be uncommon as it appeared once in a while in small columns of the newspaper and in news magazines, but to impregnate your pet was something that never, ever happened in the history of bestiality, and it wasn't something you can just dismiss and take lightly like any other bestiality cases. As procedure goes, Tasuki was arrested and held behind bars until trial, and Chichiri was put in a high security confinement until further notice.

"This court recognizes the honourable Judge Taiitsu-kun in judging the case of the people verses Mr. Tasuki on the case of sexual bestial conduct. The court is now in session," the bailiff announced before moving aside. The courtroom quieted down a little, but traces of whispering, pointing and muttering could be seen and heard.

"Arigatogozaimas, bailiff," Judge Taiistu-kun said as she hammering a few more times to warn the audience about trying to make a fish market out of the courtroom. "May the defendant please rise."

Tasuki obliged along with his lawyer. After the incident with the paparazzi and press invasion, Nuriko, with the help of her and her husband's connection, managed to hire a reliable lawyer who just so happens to be Nuriko's best friend back in high school, and made arrangements with the adoption agency to postpone the flight date to Russia. Although Tasuki kept insisting that Nuriko and Hotohori should go to Russia to collect their adopted son and leave things to him, they refused to listen to him, with an excuse that nothing is more important than helping a friend in need. The agent who helped them with the adoption arrangements understood their plight and decided to personally fly in to Japan with their promised son and came to their doorsteps to hand their little Himawari Nester and celebrated their parenthood earlier. Nester was the little boy's real name, but Nuriko decided that it should be his middle name and name him Himawari despite him being a boy because he truly reminded her of blooming sunflowers.

Tatemo (the lawyer) went through the details with Tasuki, Nuriko and Hotohori and promised that he would try his best to help Tasuki out on the case, although truthfully it was a rather tricky one for this focused on bestiality and impregnating an pet. He honestly laid out the cards that chances of winning would be rather slim, but any positive light over the situation is better than none. They realized that Chiriko had employed a rather powerful prosecutor who had been in the prosecution business for more than 30 years and barely lost a case in his life. Miboshi, as everyone known his name to be called, may look like a teenager from the outside due to a genetic disorder he had that stumps aging, his experience was no joke as almost all the cases he taken, the accused was successfully prosecuted and served a good amount of jail time. If they were to win this case, they would have to go through this tough cookie.

"This court acknowledges the case reference number 000718 on the issue of sexual bestial conduct, Tasuki versus the people," Judge Taiistu-kun repeated what was said by the bailiff as a confirmation. "How does your client plea?"

"My client pleas not guilty, Your Honour," Tatemo announced, earning boos and whispers of disapproval from those present.

"Order, order in the court!" Judge Taiitsu-kun banged the platform again to quiet everyone down before continuing, "Very well, Mr. Tatemo and Mr. Miboshi, you will begin your opening speech before calling in any of your witnesses to the stand."

With that the court was soon in session and Tatemo and Miboshi began their court war to fight for their stand. It was a rather tough battle as Tatemo and Miboshi tried to outwit each other to win the juries' heart. Many witnesses were called in that were involved in this case and most of them were either taking Miboshi's side or totally manipulated in the questioning to make it look like they were in the wrong. Chiriko and the twins Amiboshi and Suboshi were good at lying, of course, saying that they were horrified at Tasuki's act of bestiality and turned the story around to make it look like that they were the victims of being robbed of Chichiri by Tasuki. Chiriko even fanned the flame of deception by putting up the "genuinely upset" façade and said he would want nothing more than to have his precious little man-cat pet back and would do everything in his power to take good care of him and that man-kitten he was carrying, even willing to forgive Tasuki for committing such atrocities to his beloved pet. It took all of Tasuki's willpower not to just jump and yell bloody murder at them.

Nuriko, Hotohori and Tasuki's first few clients Yui and Nakago and Miaka and Tamahome were accused of being accomplices with Tasuki over this bestiality act for not reporting them to the proper authorities and allowing Tasuki and Chichiri to continue with such atrocities. Pet shop owner Mistukake was grilled for not allowing Chiriko to buy Chichiri in the first place and thus caused all this mess. The ones who were spared from Miboshi's manipulative questioning were husband and wife vet Tokaki and Subaru and Tasuki's other clients because they were not aware of it happening right under their noses. However, Tokaki and Subaru did give their medical concerns about the possibility of abnormalities on the kittens Chichiri are carrying because of the crossbreeding and spoke of their fear of birth complications and health problem, maybe possible death to Chichiri because of the chemical imbalance between a breeding of a human and cat, in which of course Miboshi further emphasized on the cruelty and carelessness of Tasuki's irresponsible and immoral act.

Tatemo tried his best to oust Miboshi from constantly bombarding his witnesses, but the case seemed biased as his objections were repeatedly overruled and Judge Taiitsu-kun seemed to allow Miboshi to ruthlessly ask his questions without so much as banging on the platform once to say that he was out of line. Instead, he was often the object of objection, whether is speculation or intimidation to the witness and Judge Taiitsu-kun often sustained his objections even though Tatemo tried to justify his arguments. Even the theory of man-cats being 75 percent human and 25 percent cat and that Tasuki's behaviour was because he was in love with a human, not an animal could not hold up in court because the zoology terms have registered and deemed Chichiri to be a cat, not a human in both zoology law and papers of black and white. The animal experts have categorized Chichiri's kind as a minority branch of the feline species and cannot be contended against Miboshi, who insist that anything displaying genuine animalistic behaviour is technically deemed an animal.

All in all, because of Miboshi's sharp tongue and the circumstances of Tasuki's case where it's still morally unlawful, the situation was grim and Tatemo and Tasuki could tell they were fighting a losing battle. From the look of the juries' faces, they can tell they had no winning case as most of them seemed like they were agreeing to Miboshi's argument. It probably was no surprise when the juries finally made the verdict and gave the results to Judge Taiitsu-kun to read, although Tasuki still kept his fingers crossed just in case Lady Luck was on his side.

"May the defendant please rise," Judge Taiitsu-kun announced and waited for Tasuki to stand before continuing, "In regards of sexual bestial conduct, the court has found you guilty of committing bestiality and impregnating a pet animal and place you under the charge of animal cruelty and abuse. The court hereby sentences you to 1 year imprisonment, a revoke of your business license and a fine of 500,000 yen, starting from now. The man-cat will become property of the state and will have the kittens terminated as soon as they are born to prevent them from polluting the sanctity of the zoology species chronologies. The court is adjourned."

Tasuki broke down and fell onto his knees at upon hearing the news and had to pick carried by two policemen and dragged out of the courtroom amidst the clapping and jeering audience. He had expected the verdict and was prepared to accept whatever charges they threw at him, but to hear that he would never see Chichiri ever again and have his kittens put down was something he had not expected. It did him in and he was in a daze as to how to cope with this reality. As he was escorted out of the building and into the police car where he would be taken to custody and undergo his jail sentence, the crowd outside were ecstatic as to hear the verdict being made. News reporters clambered around, asking questions that were practically irrelevant and incoherent to him and the crowd who had been outside protesting against bestiality threw all forms of rubbish at him and shouting and scolding at him outside the car, condemning him and cursing him to death.

Tasuki couldn't be bothered now.

He would never see Chichiri again.

He would never see his kittens ever.

Tears fell freely down his tan cheeks as the police car drove off to his accursed destination.

--:--

"This is not what we have planned!"

Chiriko was in the office room banging at the table, facing the two nonchalant twin brothers Amiboshi and Suboshi as they lazily ate their cheesecake and blueberry cake each and drank their earl grey tea. Chiriko was fuming mad and had not touched his tea and cake that was served by one of his many maids in the house.

"Are you fucking listening to me?!" Chiriko banged the table again, losing his cool. The twins looked up in boredom.

"Oh, come, come now, cousin," Amiboshi replied. "No need to be so uptight."

"Uptight? _Uptight?! _You said you guys have everything under control! You told me that if I express my desire to look after Chichiri-chan in court, Chichiri-chan will come back to me! You told me if I were to pour my heart out and portray that loving face, Chichiri-chan will be given to me! You promised he will be returned to me! You said that yourself!"

"Of course we did," Suboshi replied nonchalantly, "but that doesn't mean we're Kami. We were only expressing our positive opinions of this method, but we don't control the outcome. It's not our fault the government decided that you're not fit to be a master either."

"Why you…!" Chiriko growled and stomped towards where the twins were enjoying their tea and cakes. He grabbed their tea cups and poured the tea contents over their heads.

"Itai, itai, itai!" the twins hollered as the hot tea ran down their cheeks. "Atsui ne, Chiri! What's your problem?!"

"I should've known that it would end up like this," Chiriko said, glaring at them venomously. "I should've known better than to trust the likes of you. Get out of my house and don't come back. Ever!"

"Maa, maa, let's not be brash about this…" Amiboshi took Chiriko's wrist but he jerked it away.

"Don't touch me! Leave and never come back! I don't want to see either of you!"

"Come on, Chiri. You don't mean that," Suboshi took his other wrist and held on tight. "After all, we're family…"

"I am no longer associated with spawns of a family's disappointment! Otosan was right about you and your family! You are nothing but trouble! Black sheep of the family are nothing messed up lunatics, people like you are no family of mine! I don't even know why I acknowledge bastards like you lot as my cousins in the first place! Now take your hands off me and…Ah!!!"

Chiriko's rants were stopped by a sharp scratch against his cheek, drawing blood. He turned sharply and held his breath when he saw Suboshi with an evil grin on his face and the dancing balls floating about right behind him.

"Now, that is something you should never have said to family in the first place, and definitely not to my beloved ottota."

"The…The Ru Sei Suie!" Chiriko widened his eyes in horror as he recognized the Chinese ancestral weapons Amiboshi was using when they brought Chichiri to him after 'taking care' of Tasuki. "How did you…? I thought Amiboshi controls those things?! And…and there's no music! How could it…?"

"Move?" Amiboshi completed his question and revealed something like a small mouthpiece of a flute between his teeth. "Until now, our dear old cousin is still as clueless as the day he was born. It's a wonder he could still maintain his reputation as Japan's Golden Boy Genius."

"It can't be!" Chiriko exclaimed as he struggled to get out of Suboshi's grasp. "I thought Suboshi plays the flute! Not the other way round!"

"Shall we tell him, oni-chan?" Amiboshi asked as a naughty gleam flickered past his eyes.

"I don't see why not, ottota," Suboshi shrugged nonchalantly. "You see, dear Chiri, we are twins. And when it comes to twins, we always share our toys, even these things. I can play fairly well with the flute and Amiboshi's getting better at the Ru Sei Suie, and we developed a reputation of Amiboshi the Ru Sei Suie expert and Suboshi the talented flute player for distraction purposes.

"When it comes to the real deal, we are killer experts in our own game. Amiboshi got so well in flute playing that he doesn't need a real flute carrying around in a briefcase like normal flute players do. He only needs that miniature flute mouthpiece and can manipulate it to play the notes he wants by ministering and altering the way he moves his tongue, and can make it as silent as a dog whistle that only the Ru can react to. I, on the other hand, have mastered the art of Ru Sei Suie that I can manipulate them into a chi form so that it cannot be detected by the naked eye, and can will them into materialization as I see fit. So you see, dear Chiri, we've been carrying our weapons all along, even into the courtroom during the trial.

"As my dear oni-chan mentioned just now," Amiboshi continued, blowing a silent tune that caused the balls to wind their ropes round and round Chiriko's limbs and lift him high up in the air, "We use each other's weapons for distraction purposes. We couldn't have the feds find out what my darling oni-chan and I truly do for a living, could we? They'd have to separate us, and we wouldn't want that now, would we? You see, being a martial art and a flute performer is just one of the many side jobs we do. What we really do, you've pretty much guessed it when you first employed us to retrieve Chichiri from Tasuki's grasp: We assassinate people for a living."

"Remember the deaths of some of our Chiri's otosan's toughest competition?" Suboshi asked as he came up to Chiriko while talking to Amiboshi in his embrace. Again, they began to refer Chiriko to the third person as they spoke. "We did a really good job at making it look like accidents, didn't we?"

"Oh, I remember them perfectly, oni-chan," Amiboshi giggled. "Who would've thought Chiri's otosan who looked to us as the spawns of the family's disgrace would've personally came up to our home and asked our otosan's permission to employ our assassination expertise. Otosan definitely made him go on his knees and begging for us to help him out because of the drastic competition that's driving his deals off the edge. We practically gloated at the way he lowered himself all the way to the ground and beg, and made him wait for almost a week before we brought him his first competition's head. Our okasan definitely has trained us well when she said we needed to follow her ancestral warrior traits. We're going to have to do something extra this coming Mother's Day."

"We definitely should. Oh, ottota, I'm so proud of you for last week's assassination. You could've gotten yourself killed when the manager of Hyuganadai Ltd. kidnapped you in attempts to separate us from being able to do our job. They thought they had you when he tied you down and confiscated the Ru, but they didn't think you'd be hiding that flute mouthpiece on the roof of your mouth all along. I still feel so sorry for not getting to you sooner."

"I can take care of myself, as I have for the Masawa and Yume missions don't worry," Amiboshi smiled as he kissed his twin's cheek. "At least I pulverized them good. And as long as I have you, nothing else matters."

"Ottota…" Suboshi breathed as he inched closer to his younger twin, their lips brushing each other.

"L…Let go of me, you bastards!" Chiriko screamed, bringing them back from their lovie-dovie world. "I don't care what you do for a living! I don't care if you're gonna shag each other blind! Let go of me!"

"Sorry, Chiri," Suboshi said as he signaled Amiboshi to hold him higher. "We haven't even had enough fun with you yet. That 'payment' last time wasn't even halfway satisfying."

"Besides, we've always wanted a threesome, with a little BDSM in between," Amiboshi said, blowing a tune to make the Ru bring Chiriko closer to them. "Sex has been a little…bland these days. We need a little excitement."

With that, Amiboshi got started on blowing his tune. The Ru came alive and coiled up menacingly in front of Chiriko's face like a King cobra would when it was about to strike. Another tune and the Ru began to slam themselves against Chiriko's skin, attacking him at every crevice of his body, splattering the blood everywhere. Some got onto the twins' cheeks and they took turns licking each other clean as they watch with lust and menace at the fast-moving balls did their thing, tearing Chiriko's skin and pratically shredding him like a shredder would to paper. Chiriko screamed in pain until he could scream no more as the Ru cut, bruised, scraped, slashed, punched and broke every part of the body the balls got in contact with. The little boy genius wondered why no one heard his screams and why no one came in to save him, but in the midst of being pummeled into a pulp, he remembered that his room was built to be soundproof as to avoid any disturbance from both inside and outside, and the only way anyone could hear him was through the intercom that connected his phone and the device outside the door whenever anyone needed to see him, and unfortunately his intercom was turned off and he had given strict instructions to his subordinates that he would not be bothered unless he made the call to do so.

"Why…? Why are…you doing…this…?" Chiriko asked hoarsely as he got another blow to his temple.

"Why? For fun, that's why," Suboshi shrugged, speaking as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world.

"Besides, you and your family have been ridiculing us for too long. It's about time you get your just desserts," Amiboshi sneered as he licked a drop of blood that was trickling down Chiriko's chin. "And what better way to do it than to have our way with your body? We can exact our revenge _and_ get to enjoy mind-blowing sex in the process."

"The sins of the father have to be paid by the blood of the son, dear Chiri," Suboshi said as he pulled at the rope to bring him even closer so that he could lick off the blood from his forehead. "Ready, ottota dearest?"

"As always, oni-chan love," Amiboshi giggled in an almost childish tone and reached over to plant a deep, passionate kiss. They let out a passionate lustful sigh as Amiboshi made the Ru carry Chiriko on top of their heads and let his blood drip onto their skin like rain. Again, they took turns licking each other, tearing off each other's upper body clothing and smearing each other's fair skin with the metallic smell and liquid of crimson through their wet tongues and their fingers. Watching the twins kiss and lick each other with such fervent vigor of lust and passion as they grind their manhood against each other with only their pants as their barrier was involuntarily arousing Chiriko physically, though his mind was finding it rather offensive as he tried to contradict himself by screwing up his face in disgust.

"Aww, oni-chan," Amiboshi pouted in a fake cute disappointed tone, "Chiri doesn't seem to find our brotherly love appealing anymore."

"Well, we'll just have to rekindle the flame then, shouldn't we?" Suboshi said as he gave his twin a knowing smirk.

Amiboshi took that as a cue to bring the Ru that held Chiriko captive down. They settled him on the couch and Amiboshi blew a tune to make the Ru wind their ropes tightly onto the couch legs, holding the poor boy genius down onto the velvet seat, his blood beginning to seep through the covers. Suboshi swayed his hips seductively as he walked up towards the bound Chiriko and started peeling off what was left of Chiriko's torn and tattered clothing, baring his naked, bloody body for all the world to see.

"I'll…I'll have you…locked up for this…" Chiriko breathed as the last piece of clothing was removed.

"Go ahead and try," Suboshi said in a challenging tone. "Go ahead and see whose side are they on. What makes you think we can't just do you in right here, right now before you could even _think _of ratting us out?"

"Why…don't you…?"

"Now that would take out all the fun of it, wouldn't it?" Amiboshi replied as he straddled the boy. "I mean, what joy can we derive from if we kill you without having the chance to see you suffer and whine as your rich and pathetic life as you know it crumble before your very eyes?"

"Chiri does know that we know own about 90 percent of the shares of every business his own and also almost half of whatever earnings his parents are making right now goes right into our pockets as fees for our services, doesn't he, ottota, including the rights to every property Chiri owns in every state of Japan?" Suboshi asked in the usual third person way.

"I don't believe he does, what with him being so obsessed over his darling little Chichiri-chan of his," Amiboshi said as Suboshi licked his lips, preparing himself to give Chiriko head. "And we pretty much have both his parents at our mercy and almost all of his followers are slowly converting their loyalty towards us. Most of the earnings dear Chiri makes go directly into our pockets without even him knowing it. Who knows the miracle of secret bank accounts and online banking can do? He's literally working for us as we speak! Isn't that fun, oni-chan?"

"It sure is, ottota dearest. We've come a long way from being the disgrace of the family. Otosan and okasan sure is going to be proud when we present this news on their wedding anniversary next month."

"Why…? What have…I done…to deserve this…?" Chiriko gasped as he felt a wet and warm sensation engulfing his little cock.

"Why? Why, you say?" Amiboshi gave Chiriko such a glare that if looks could kill, he would've died a thousand deaths. He then turned to Suboshi who was giving Chiriko head and put on a mock devastated face. "Oni-chan love, he doesn't remember what he had done to deserve his punishment. That's so mean of him!"

"Refresh his memory then," Suboshi replied before going back to blowing Chiriko.

"With pleasure," Amiboshi smirked and blew a tune. The balls of the Ru activated immediately and landed blows after blows onto Chiriko's head while Amiboshi bombarded him with questions in a venomous tone, "Do you remember the day you tore and hid the limbs of my action figure? Do you remember you grabbed my oni-chan's hair and burnt every tip of it until my oni-chan had to cut it bald and wait for it to grow out while our friends teased him 'Baldy' for three months? Do you remember crushing our cake during our 5th birthday? Do you remember you and your group of geeks ganged up on us and you sat there and watched while they molested us? They may not have robbed us of our virginity but it still hurts to let someone other than my beloved oni-chan touch me, and watch as someone else touches my oni-chan other than me! All those things you have done to us and yet you ask what have you done to deserve this?! How dare you forget about all the dastardly deeds you've done to us, just because we're our otosan's children?! How dare you?!"

So saying, he reached down and pinched hard at one of Chiriko's nipples while biting down hard on the other with a vengeance, earning a loud scream of agony from the young boy genius. Suboshi had done blowing him and teased the tip with his fingers.

"Look at you, you slut," Suboshi grinned. "You're getting hard by this. You really are dirty and scandalous underneath all that genius business-like façade, aren't you?"

"No…! That's…That's not true…!" Chiriko whined as Amiboshi bit the nipple he just pinched and pinched the nipple he just bit, making it a double assault of pain.

"Liar," Suboshi said, flicking at the erection. "Look at you, you're dripping with already. I bet if I do something more you're gonna cum all over yourself, but we're not going to let you off easy. We're not satisfied yet."

The twins soon removed the rest of their own clothing and began to kiss each other with gusto. They kneaded each other's ass like it was the most touchable thing in the world as they rubbed their manhood against each other, while occasionally either twin would pump Chiriko's erection or finger-fucked Chiriko's ass without bothering to prepare him one finger at a time. Chiriko couldn't stop the unintentional moans and groans from escaping his mouth as he was forced to watch their erotic display and being stimulated at the same time. The Ru dug deeper into his limbs to stop him from struggling, the pain amplifying the pleasure he did not want coming all the way down south to his nether regions, and that sight enticed the twins to making out some more.

"Oni-chan, I can't take it anymore…" Amiboshi begged, his eyes glazed with lust.

"Well, go ahead, ottota," Suboshi released his hold from his twin. "He's all yours."

The younger twin happily went towards Chiriko and blew a tune to make the Ru loosen its grip on the boy's ankles. It did, but in a way that it was still linked with the ankles and Amiboshi lifted Chiriko's legs so that his puckered ass was facing his manhood. He then lined himself onto his opening and with great force, he slammed himself into Chiriko all the way to the hilt, earning a strangled scream from the young boy.

"Oh no, Chiri," Suboshi said as he turned Chiriko's face sideways to face his own erection. "You don't get the pleasure of just lying there getting fucked. You gotta do your part. Suck me well while I fuck your mouth, you little slut."

A bit of the Ru rope pulled itself into Chiriko's mouth to gag him so that he couldn't bite down and, without warning, Suboshi entered himself into Chiriko's mouth, pounding relentlessly into him. Soon Chiriko found himself both fucked through the ass and the mouth as the twins have their way with him, ramming him again and again. Chiriko almost gagged out of the sheer force of Suboshi's thrusts and his ass getting sore from Amiboshi slamming him in like a rag doll.

"Oh Kami, oni-chan…he's so tight…" Amiboshi groaned as he slammed even deeper, barely hitting Chiriko's sweet spot. Not that he wanted to give him the pleasure of that anyway. "Who would've thought…after asking for our payment that day…he'd still be this tight…"

"Yeah, ottota," Suboshi agreed. "And his mouth…is just so…fuckable…It's hard to believe…he's not experienced in this…You should try it…"

"I just might…Oh, shit…he's really sucking me in…I'm going to cum…!"

Amiboshi let out a groan as he spilled his seed into Chiriko. Suboshi gave a few thrusts and came into Chiriko's mouth, making the poor boy genius swallow every drop of his juice before pulling out for him to choke and cough. His own erection was throbbed painfully against his stomach, the pre-cum leaking out and staining it. The twins shared a menacing grin and Amiboshi blew a tune to let what's left of the free Ru rope to coil itself around tight at the hilt of Chiriko's cock. Chiriko let out a muffled scream of protest and would've said something if the ropes weren't still in his mouth gagging him.

"Come, come now, Chiri," Amiboshi said. "You can't be done so quickly. We've only just started."

"Trust me, Chiri," Suboshi said, "This is only the beginning of our game. Bear with it. You just might end up enjoying it."

A/N: Goodness, that's a tough lesson to learn about trusting the black sheep of the family. Thanks, RaeRat for the heads-up on Amiboshi and Suboshi's weapon of choice. Guess I was really confused. They're just as alike as Hikaru and Kaoru from Ouran, I can hardly tell the difference. Alrighty then, what would happen next? Not gonna tell you! You'll just have to follow up yourself! Reviews plz!


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Well? How did you like the previous chapter? Really sorry for the delay though. Now let's get on with the show and find out what's gonna happen next! Wohoo!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

PUSS, PUSS

"Dinner time, kitty cat."

Chichiri looked up to see the volunteer worker opening the lock of his cage and put in his bowl of cat food and water. He turned around until his back was facing the young volunteer and ignored her, the food and water untouched.

"Come on, kitty cat, you gotta eat something. You left out so much of lunch today."

Chichiri gave her the silent treatment. There was no way he was going to eat that. For all he knew, they might try to poison him with a slow-moving drug that could kill both him and his kittens. He'd rather starve.

"You're not doing you or your kittens any good going on a hunger strike like this. You can't keep up like this. I don't want to let the doctor force-feed you. It's not a pretty sight, trust me."

Chichiri turned around slightly to give the girl a grudging look. She was no older than Tasuki, and had nice curly and thick dark-brown hair and a pair of hauntingly beautiful blood-red eyes. Skin as pale and smooth as ivory and slim built, he remembered that she was called Illust-chan around the AHS shelter house he was thrown in after he was separated from his beloved Tasu-sama. She had this weird smiley face that always made her look happy and high, like she was on crack 24/7, but in truth, she just had a very jovial, happy-go-lucky nature. So far, in his stay in the shelter house, she was the only one who had been decently nice to him.

Days in the shelter house were sad and lonely. It's been so long since he last seen Tasuki after that crazy incident outside their home, what with the involvement of the paparazzi and all. When the people of AHS put him into the cat cage, he cried and snarled and hissed and rattled his cage, begging to be out. He wouldn't give up without a fight, not even when one of them injected him with sedatives. With whatever strength he had left before the sedatives fully kicked in, he grabbed hold on the lock of the cage tightly and shook it as hard as he could, hoping the movement would break it and he would go free. All that vigor was in vain as he woke up with a bad headache and grilled door greeted him, accompanied by other sounds like people talking, dogs barking, cats meowing and things moving about, and of course, the first person he met when it was time for meals was Illust-chan.

Not a day went by without him thinking what happened to his beloved koibito and master Tasu-sama. He could tell from the crowd that gathered around outside their little humble abode that their long kept secret had been discovered and he worried everyday about what the policemen would and all that mad crowd would do to him knowing that he was having an illicit affair with a pet and having him pregnant. He wondered who ratted them out. Surely it wasn't Nuriko. The first thing Nuriko did when the policemen arrested him was reaching for the phone to call someone for help, so Nuriko was definitely out of the list of suspects. Hotohori? Impossible. He had treated his Tasu-sama and him like family, and was one of the kindest humans he had ever met. He would never do such a thing. It could definitely not be any of their friends from Rekka-Shin or any of their clients. Besides, Nuriko and Hotohori were the only ones alive to know about their secret affair and he trusted them with his life. But if it weren't them, who could it be?

"Personally, I think it's not fair they keep you here," Illust-chan sat down in front of his cage as usual whenever she brought him his meals. "I mean technically speaking, you are 75 percent human, and there's no say in the law that you cannot fall in love and have babies with you as long as you're dominantly human, but you know how all those Green Peace people and Animal Rights Activists, thinking you're an animal and all. Now who's being the inconsiderate one, eh?"

Regardless if he was paying attention or not, Illust-chan would talk and talk and talk to him like he was an old friend and just pour out everything she had in mind, until she had to be nagged by her colleague or superior to get the hell up and get back to work. Basically Chichiri was her not-so-willing listening ear, and since she didn't pester him to listen to her or look at her while she's talking but just talk on and on about her life that has got nothing to do with him, it wouldn't hurt to just let her blab for a while.

"Actually, to tell the truth, we should just leave animals be, you know?" Illust-chan blabbered as she reached in to stroke Chichiri on the back of the ear. Another thing was that Chichiri would never allow anyone to touch him except Illust-chan (and that was after biting and scratching at her a number of times, yet she never seemed to quit), thus her personally handling him. "Animals have been around this land for centuries and the wild animals in the outback are all doing hunky-dory fine before without having us humans involved, so who are we exactly to question their wellbeing and decide what's best for them? We've made plenty of mistakes trying to play Kami-sama over the animals and look where we've ended up? More losing than saving, that's what it is right now.

"You know what I think?" Illust-chan lowered her voice to a whisper, as if telling Chichiri a secret, "I think you and your master should've just eloped when you had the chance. Isn't that romantic? Him whisking you off into some paradise island where you live your days without care in the world. That would be so great! No one will ever question your love. Hell, they can't even question your whereabouts!"

Chichiri smiled inwardly. He felt rather intrigued about that idea. Maybe they should've done that in the first place. But of course, he wouldn't admit that to Illust-chan. He still has his doubts about her.

"Let me give you another secret," Illust-chan lowered her voice to almost inaudible, but only just enough to let Chichiri's sharp ears catch it. "I think I got a way to get you outta here somehow, so be patient."

"Illust-chan!" someone called her from afar, probably a colleague or her superior. "I swear you're going to be sent to the nut house if you keep sitting there blabbering to animals like you're George of the Jungle or something! Get your ass here to work!"

"Hai, hai, chotto matte bayo!" Illust-chan shouted back with her smiley face and gave Chichiri one last stroke before saying, "Be a good kitty and eat your dinner, OK? For lil' ol' me? Onegai shimasu?"

Chichiri stared after Illust-chan who rushed off humming a cheerful tone while ignoring her colleague's bashing about her slacking off the job.

What exactly did she mean by that statement?

--:--

Nuriko, Hotohori and the first two couples Tasuki and Chichiri helped match-made were in the visiting room along with other people who went there to visit their loved ones being locked up in prison. The only thing separated them was a counter and a glass wall between them and a telephone as their only means of talking to each other.

It has been almost 3 months since Tasuki was jailed. Their lawyer Tatemo had tried to make an appeal, but so far, there had been no green light as to whether they would want to allow a retrial. After that sensational news, those who were close to or knew Tasuki or who were known to have been Tasuki's clients were quickly shunned and ignored, being pointed and whispered about behind their backs, even though they claimed it again and again that they had no part or nothing to do with Tasuki's bestial affair and had no clue of what Tasuki had been doing behind closed doors. No one would want to listen to them. Even when they knew they spoke the truth, they wanted to have nothing to do with them. They were treated rather discriminately in places and were not allowed visitations to see Chichiri for fear of foul play, since they knew them and Chichiri were close. Tasuki's guess were as good as theirs as to how Chichiri's condition was and how he was doing in the shelter home.

Nuriko gestured Tasuki to pick up the phone on his side and waited for Tasuki to do so before talking through the phone on her side, "Ohayo, Tasu-chan."

"Hai…" Tasuki replied weakly, his mood not really into the conversation.

"How you're holding up, Tasu-chan?" Nuriko asked worriedly. She traced around Tasuki's face outline on the glass and muttered, "You've lost weight…"

"No biggie," Tasuki replied. "I'm getting used to having cabbage soup, mash potatoes, bread and soybean milk everyday anyway."

"Don't worry," Tamahome spoke at the mouthpiece of the phone Nuriko was holding. "Once we get you outta here, I'm going to cook up a storm. You'll be eating like a king in no time."

"You hold on there, Tasuki," Hotohori spoke through the mouthpiece of the phone next. "We're almost close to a breakthrough. Tatemo's appeal is getting fresh, so…"

"Arigato, Hotohori-san, Nuriko-chan, minna-san," Tasuki spoke in barely a whisper. "Demo…you've done enough. Leave me be."

"Tasuki-kun, you can't think that!" Miaka grabbed Nuriko's phone and spoke frantically, "You can't give up! We can convince them that this is all a mistake! We can make them see that there is nothing wrong with your relationship with Chichiri-chan! Don't give up now, please!"

"Yeah!" Tamahome spoke close to the mouthpiece, "Where's that feisty spirit you take pride in having? Where's that love you carry around like a torch in your heart for Chichiri-chan? I thought you'd do anything for him! Where's that Tasuki gone!"

Tasuki silently listened as each and every one of them took the phone to spill out encouragement to him. He knew they meant well. He knew they cared for him. But this…

"They're gonna keep us away no matter what," Tasuki finally spoke after 10 seconds of staring quietly at all his frantic friends, his lips creased in a wry, weak smile. "You heard them. Chiri-chan is officially government's property now. They'll do whatever it takes to tear us apart. We will never see each other ever again…"

"Then we'll do whatever it takes to beat the system!" Yui spoke angrily. "If someone doesn't do something about this, no one will ever win but them! It's not fair to separate lovers like this! It's not! No matter what people are supposed to be free to love as long as there is no harm done to others or the partner!"

"Then can you bring my kittens back? Can you bring them back to life after they kill them?"

"Nani…?" everyone was surprised at Tasuki's question.

"Chiri-chan is almost due," Tasuki said as he finally allowed his welled-up tears to flow out of his eyes. "He will have my kittens soon, and when he does, I won't be there for him. You won't be there for him either. They will make him suffer the pain of birth and then kill them in front of his eyes. Knowing Chiri-chan, he'd rather die than not having my kittens anymore. Can you bring them back by the time we beat the system, _if _we beat the system?"

Everyone was at a loss of words. No one knew what to respond to that.

"You have done enough, minna-san. Arigatogozaimasu, minna-san. I won't trouble you all any longer."

With that, he hung up, bowed at them and left without turning back, ignoring the frantic calls of his friends on the other side and not even so much as glance at them being reprimanded and escorted out by the guards.

--:--

"I can't believe he'd just shrug us off like that! Baka! Baka Tasu-chan!"

Nuriko was still grumbling on the way back as she and her husband drove the couples Yui-Nakago and Miaka-Tamahome home before they go to the nursery home to pick up their Himawari. Judging on everyone's look on their faces, they had the same sentiments exactly, but not as fevered as Nuriko's.

"I guess the judge and juries' verdict must've hit him hard," Nakago commented. "It's not easy to cope with knowing that your lover is going to be apart from you for the rest of your life and your child would die before they could even have the chance to experience first breath."

"That's just so sad," Miaka shook her head in dismay. "Just because they are the high-ups doesn't mean they do whatever they want."

"Well, they _are _the high-ups after all," Tamahome sighed. "I mean, look what they did to Tasuki. I'm scared of what they might do to Chichiri-chan."

"That doesn't mean he should just lost faith!" Nuriko grumbled. "We're his friends, for Kami's sake! He should at least trust us a little!"

"Anata, don't be that—Abunai!"

Nuriko hit the brakes and swerved at Hotohori's exclaim, barely missing the dark limo that suddenly appeared from a blind spot and blocked their way by a few inches. Everyone looked like they just either had a heart attack or had just seen Sadako crawling out of the well and out of the TV as their mind blanked out for a moment, shutting down due to shock. As their train of thought slowly returned back to normal, they saw the owner of the car coming out and moved towards the backseat and opened the door to reveal no other the young multimillionaire boy genius Chiriko.

"T…Teme!" Nuriko growled as she got off the car and stomped towards the boy genius. Before the driver could react, she had already grabbed Chiriko by the collar and shook him like a rag doll. She could see that the little boy genius was covered with plasters, bandages and gauze, and was a little bit curious, but her anger was much stronger than her curiosity, and all she wanted right now was to beat the hell out of the boy that caused all these problems on her two beloved best friends. Chiriko held his hand up to stop his driver from helping him as he allowed Nuriko to do as he pleased.

"What the fuck are you doing here!" Nuriko demanded. "After what you have done to Tasu-chan and Chichiri-chan, you dare show your fucking face in front of us again! Haven't you done enough damage already!"

"I know how you feel…" Chiriko began but was outsmarted when Tamahome lunged forward to punch him.

"Save your bullshit, bozu!" Tamahome growled. "You know shit about how we feel! You know crap about how Tasuki-san and Chichiri-chan feel! You were the one who got them into all this mess! You were the one who threw Tasuki-san into jail and sent both Chichiri-chan and their kittens to their death! What else do you want now!"

"How about me trying to get them out of it?"

Everyone stopped at their tracks, looking at the boy skeptically. Nuriko gruffly let go of Chiriko and regarded him from head to toe.

"What happened to you, anyway?"

"Let's say I had a little family disagreement," Chiriko said as he hastily brushed off the blood from the corner of his lips due to the blow given by Tamahome. "Now do you want my help or not?"

"Why should we trust you after all that you've done?" Yui asked challengingly, with Miaka nodding in agreement.

"Well, as much as I resent the defeat of losing the love of my life to Tasuki and enjoy the fact that he would be rotting in jail and be an outcast of society for the rest of his life," Chiriko replied, the last statement making Tamahome look like he wanted to sucker-punch him again, "I still love Chichiri-chan, and the last thing I want is of anything happening to him. I've been with him well long enough to know that if those people in the shelter home ever do kill those kittens, he would want nothing more than to be dead, and I can't have that. I cannot allow my Chichiri-chan to die in such vain."

The group was not convinced, seeing that Chiriko is behaving like the possessive little childish boy he had always been.

"Besides, I know people. I practically almost own this country. I know you guys are at your wits' end trying to rescue that Tasuki of yours without as much as yielding a single favourable result. You want to go through them, you'll have to go through the proper channels. That's where I come in."

The group looked at each other questioningly. As much as they hated to admit it, for once this kid was right. They could barely even get to apply for an appeal without facing countless rejections before they even started, let alone trying to convince the judge to get a retrial. Everyone whom they thought were their friends turned their backs to them and refused to help them any further or to associate themselves with this issue any longer. Everything they've tried so far has failed. What else have they got to lose, except their best friends?

"So? Are we still on the same wave length here?"

Sighing inwardly, they turned to the millionaire boy genius grudgingly.

"What do you have in mind?"

A/N: I know. I bet you've seen this Illust-chan character cameo-ing everywhere, right? She's my OC, and I just like to get her involved whenever she could to fill in anyone I can't figure out to play the role, so. Neways, yeah! I bet you were wondering when will Chiriko come to his senses after that terrible ordeal he had to learn his lesson, eh? The next chapters are gonna be top-notch, believe me! Reviews plz!


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Yeah! Now we're getting into the heat of the story! Shall I continue? Of course I shall! Warning: One hell big-ass lot of characters involved in this chapter. Let's go!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

                                                                         PUSS, PUSS

            The Rekka-Shin apartment was totally crowded at the lounge area with all the apartment residents gathered there with the landlady Nuriko and her husband Hotohori. All of them were looking skeptically at the boy genius Chiriko as he prepared himself and a large group of people bringing their own pets to be interviewed by a pair of journalists who were with them in the lounge area waiting patiently for their questions to be answered. Neither of them truly trusted him, but they knew in order to save their best friends, they were left with no option but his.

            Chiriko, being the boy with many connections, managed to contact every source he could find in order to create this special interview. He collected whatever loyal followers in the company that he had and left the company he had worked so hard to build, giving up his ownership to his cousins Suboshi and Amiboshi and let them take the reign while he quietly signed over everything else he had own—including all the riches his parents had forsaken to him for their outrageously high assassination prices—to them, estate and all. The only thing left were the clothes behind his back and his own personal items like his wallet of money (which was not much), a bunch of credit cards he probably won't be able to use, his identity card, his passport and his driving license. Those who pledged their loyalty to Chiriko and hated the twins' guts, which included his personal driver, swore that they would follow their little master to the end as they left the company and trailed behind Chiriko's wake.

            With his followers and his still standing connections, he discovered that there have been others just like Tasuki and Chichiri's situation. He convinced them to come out of the light and reveal their secret lives in order to show their support to Tasuki, and then made a few calls to tabloids and journalists, even a few budding writers of this genre to come do a special interview on the justifications of Tasuki and Chichiri's relationship. He then made the call to Nuriko to ask her to prepare a space fit for everyone to conduct this special interview, and she chose Rekka-Shin apartment as she gather her tenants into play.

            "Are we all set, Chiriko-san?" one of the journalists asked as he spotted Chiriko coming out in the best clothes he could muster in a shop with what money he had in hand.

            "Hai, we can start now," Chiriko replied, gesturing his band of people to come forth with him.

            As the interview began, one by one, Chiriko's people gave their testimonials and their proclamation of love for their man-cats. Everyone was surprised at how much the minority of people having illicit affairs with their man-cats were, especially those who had a bit of neko-boy fetish that led them to buy the man-cat in the first place, and was even more surprised when Chiriko, _the _multi-millionaire boy genius came forth to confess his own personal love interest with Chichiri and openly admitted that he was behind all that had happened to Tasuki, including his involvement with the twins to assassinate him to kidnap Chichiri and his tipping off the press and media about Tasuki and Chichiri's relationship. By the time he was done, everyone from Rekka-Shin apartment had a somewhat newfound respect for the boy.

            Soon the rest of the tenant came in and gave their testimonials of how Chichiri and Tasuki helped them with their lives. Miaka and Tamahome, Nuriko and Hotohori and Yuki and Nakago spoke highly of them, emphasizing that if it weren't for them, they wouldn't have found true love and have found each other. The ex-college dropout who now works at Hotohori's company at a respectable salary-man's wage praised Chichiri for helping him get out of his slum of a life with no qualifications and getting him back into the beat after his numerous dropouts from different schools in his years of higher learning. Shou and Makura begged whoever was holding Tasuki and Chichiri to let them go and be together for it was already a tough life living as estranged bastard siblings, let alone as separated lovers.

            Kai, with Reika translating his sign languages, spoke of Chichiri being their relationship saviour and thought of it unfair for Tasuki and Chichiri to be separated when they were only loving each other and hurting no one else. Raichu and her boyfriend spoke enthusiastically about how Chichiri and Tasuki had helped spared her and releasing her from being confined into a love life she didn't want, and Mrs. Bunzaemon said that if it weren't for Chichiri, she would've never found the will her husband had hid so carefully from her and had not known that her husband loved her so much even in death. Jim Suzuki and Rinnie spoke passionately about someone who would risk his own life to jump in front of a moving motorcycle and get hit just to prevent a bigger tragedy would never be a bad person and Tasuki would never be wrong to fall in love with such a selfless being, and that normal human beings would never do such a thing, and for someone half of a human gene, it was a very valiant thing to do.

            Michitsu commended on Chichiri being the only person who ever broke through his secretive double life and secure his relationship with his girlfriend Keiko, while Kamatsu, who now spoke fluently without stuttering, praised Chichiri and Tasuki, saying that despite Chichiri getting him involved with the road accident, it was because of the existence of Tasuki's matchmaking services was he able to finally get with Minami and cure his stuttering problem, due to the fact that Minami's parents were both a psychiatrist and articulation teacher and were more than willing to help him with his speech impediment. Andou and Junko also agreed that it was Tasuki and Chichiri's help that made their newly wed life now possible, and Matsuo and Maya said that if it weren't for Chichiri, they wouldn't have met and been together for these blissful 2 years.

            Albert Kay, who had watched the news about Tasuki and Chichiri's case, flew all the way to Japan and had just joined the special interview minutes before the show started and spoke very highly of Tasuki and Chichiri, commending on how the duo risked their own lives to locate the underground pornography society and save the Ukraine ambassador's daughter. He even added that if it weren't for Tasuki's quick action when he and some reinforcements went down to apprehend the society, he would've gotten a bullet through his head and died there and then, instead of it hitting Tasuki's shoulder. Furthermore, he gave full support of Tasuki's love affair with Chichiri because he believed that no normal human being would as nice and kind as to go all out in following him back to Ukraine and stayed by the traumatized ambassador's daughter's side until she had fully recovered and functioned properly in society and have regained some form of normal sanity after her harrowing trauma as Chichiri would. He believed that Chichiri was more than just half human and that normal humans should be ashamed of themselves for condemning someone who behaved so much more humane than their own. He even produced papers from his government researches and recommendation reports stating that Chichiri is technically 75 percent human and should be treated as one, which includes being given human rights like every other citizen, even to love whomever they wish.

            Cherry and Mike were grateful of Chichiri's companionship when they hired him to give them some comfort. They were so used to having three people in the house that the loss of Gary was too great to endure the emptiness and lacking of someone in their lives. They said that if it weren't for Chichiri and his unorthodox way of bringing them new friend and housemate, they would've done the same thing Gary did when he was diagnosed with the brain cancer. Kyoto and Yukito were exceptionally thankful for Chichiri's efforts to bring them together and prevent a tragedy happening, and had cured Kyoto of his mourning heartbreak, and Yume and Yumi owed their strengthened mother-daughter relationship thanks to Chichiri's intervention. Even the young teenage couple Katsuya and Miki and Makoto and Ai were happy to have had Chichiri and Tasuki being their means of getting together and increasing their love for each other.

            Those who were saved in every way possible by Tasuki and Chichiri's services were shocked as those who had never used their services approached the interview with much compassion towards Tasuki and Chichiri's plight, speaking of all the good things Tasuki and Chichiri had done for them. Apparently, behind everyone's back, Chichiri and Tasuki actually took the liberty to help with their own personal problems as well, free of charge and out of free will. Tasuki and Chichiri were the only ones to know that despite the one-big-happy-family they portray, the Matsumoto family of ground floor was having a silent family crisis: Mr. Matsumoto was having an affair and Mrs. Matsumoto, knowing her husband's infidelity but kept the marriage for the sake of their children, became a drunk and would occasionally beat the crap out of her children. Chichiri recorded everything she had done to her children in her drunken state while her husband was away with another woman, and while Chichiri helped protect the children by luring them to escape to his house whenever Mrs. Matsumoto started drinking, Tasuki approached Mr. Matsumoto and revealed the video to him, shocking him out of his senses. He quickly broke off with all his lovers, came home and apologized to his wife and made her go to detox rehab. Mrs. Matsumoto was sober of almost a year now and Mr. Matsumoto never strayed away again, and their family was truly a one-big-happy-family.

            Riku and his newly wed wife Sora (**A/N: Nothing to do with the KH characters, mind you…OK, maybe a little**) who were currently living in the supposedly haunted fifth floor spoke in the interview that they had their eternal gratitude towards Tasuki and Chichiri for helping to exorcise the spirit residing at that floor. Apparently the rumours of a suicide case were true as the suicide victim was a young lady who killed herself by slitting her wrists in a full bathtub after a failed relationship. Riku did not believe in the haunting stories at first, and for the first time, became the resident of the isolated fifth floor, but when he and his wife was constantly haunted by cries of agony, dripping sounds and occasional overflowing bathtubs, they realized that they need help. Chichiri was wandering around in his usual night escapades around the apartment when he saw Riku and Sora talking to a helpless spirit medium, and had Tasuki come a look at the situation—even though it was out of his services jurisdiction—and with Chichiri's eyes to see the spirit (based on some beliefs, animals can see the dead), helped the spirit to talk her out of haunting the place and move on, and had the person who caused her so much pain to beg for forgiveness. And it was also thanks to Tasuki and Chichiri that now the fifth floor was no longer as lonely as before and Riku and Sora got to bring in other of their friends to live there to entirely liven up the air around it.

            The Hayai family of seventh floor spoke of Tasuki giving them the tip-off that their life of seclusion had been compromised because Chichiri spotted strangers lingering outside the apartment at a nightly basis, trying to figure out how to enter and assassinate them without causing any ruckus or link any connections towards their organization. Aneki took care of them quietly and decided to move back into Kaito's clan where they would have better protection. Roommates Ichigo, Dakaru, Wakou and Barasui, and Wakou's adopted son Chiihara of seventh floor also had their say in this special interview. Sakura, Wakou's sister who lived one floor above them were not in speaking terms with Wakou because of Wakou's resistance towards Sakura and Anta's relationship due to the fact that Anta was a midget and not exactly the 'man of the house' in this relationship. He had preferred his sister to search for someone worthy, someone manlier than Anta to look after his sister, but Sakura was adamant to be with Anta. It was Chichiri who helped him see the light when a bunch of hooligans tried to bully and rape Sakura because of their distaste of her being the woman yet better cook than they were and Anta, despite his small stature, stood up against them and almost earned him a number of near-fatal injuries.

            Lalaru, Ichigo's eating disorder girlfriend, was still struggling with her problem and couldn't get it out of her system that she was way beyond the thin level to be dieting like a supermodel. There were a couple times where she actually attempted to escape from rehab so that she could go back to not eating or drinking for days at end and looking at herself regretfully in the mirror, never satisfied and constantly thinking that she was too fat. Tasuki, after hearing from Chichiri Ichigo's woes about how to go about curing Lalaru of her eating disorder, arranged with a friend of his without Ichigo's knowledge to borrow his private villa where he took Lalaru from the rehab centre on the pretense that she was being relocated and locked her in the cellar where she was forced to eat proper meals three times a day while getting a regular sunbath in between under his scrutiny. He paid the rehab people to keep quiet about Lalaru's true whereabouts and had to pretend he didn't know anything when Ichigo presented him a missing person's flyer of her. After long weeks of personal rehab, delicious food, shock therapy of how she would turn out if she had continued her crazy dieting ways and a bit of love and tender care of a friend in between, Lalaru had finally gain considerable weight and finally learnt the importance of moderation before she was returned to a very happy, very grateful Ichigo, but not without suffering a little scolding for keeping him in the dark like that.

            Wakou had to endure a rather long battle of child custody when suddenly the father of the child claimed that he had turned over a new leaf and wished to take Chiihara back. Chiihara was torn between choosing Wakou and his real father because at one side, he was glad that his father was ready to love and accept him, but on the other side, he owed it to Wakou for taking care of him for so long. Being the head of a single bakery shop didn't really secure him enough money to fight a legal battle with Chiihara's real father, who was a rather powerful manager of a big car dealer company, and Wakou knew he was fighting a losing battle. If it weren't for Chichiri's sixth sense that smelled a rat behind Chiihara's real father intention and Tasuki's sleuthing, they would not have found out that in secret, Chiihara's real father was facing bankruptcy as his cars were not selling well and had heard that Chiihara's mother was actually an heir to a family of business conglomerates (she was kicked out of the house because of her illegitimate pregnancy) and had entrusted her will stating that all her secret savings that she had saved up during her younger years behind her family's back would go to Chiihara at the event of her death. Chiihara's father had went to check out her place where she lived after being disowned by her family when the landlord found him to be her ex-boyfriend and called him to clear away her stuff for the new tenants to live in and found the will hidden somewhere in her home, and wasted no time in locating Chiihara's whereabouts and demanded his son back from Wakou. After Tasuki and Chichiri's intervention after discovering the truth, the social services immediately revoked all his father's rights to custody and announced that Wakou could keep Chiihara as his son forever.

            As the interview ended, many soon found out, including the reporters, that Tasuki and Chichiri were not as bad as everyone thought and the prosecutor Miboshi portrayed him to be. As Chiriko led the reporters to interview others who had received their dating and matchmaking services, they found out that one way or another, Tasuki and Chichiri's intervention into their lives have made a drastic change for the better. Many of them spoke fairly high of them, always saying that if it weren't for them they would've either committed suicide, committed a crime, never met that special someone or overall make the biggest mistake of their lives. Soon other anonymous people who never used Tasuki and Chichiri's services came forth through phone calls that a lot of Tasuki and Chichiri's selfless acts had led them to better lives, whether they knew it or not.

            A man said that it was thanks to Chichiri's accidental bump when he slipped from Tasuki's piggy back ride and fell onto him that he managed to kiss his girl (although by accident) when previously he dare not do it, thus strengthening their relationship and moved them up to the next level. A husband and wife who owned a bento shop had the duo to thank for highly recommending their shop to a very wealthy businessman—they weren't doing very well back then—after Tasuki had bought two bento-s from his shop and just so happened to come across the businessman who was looking for a respectable place to cater food for his almost 1,000 and counting employees. A couple said if it weren't for Tasuki's random question, the boyfriend would not have the guts to propose to the girlfriend. A man who was having marriage jeopardy would've chose to divorce his wife for her irrational and abnormal behaviour if Tasuki and Chichiri had not met him in the bar and pointed out the possibility of his wife being upset about her infertility based on the clues of his wife's behaviour he disclosed. A woman whom Tasuki and Chichiri met when they went on a long-awaited trip to Bali with their earnings had them to thank for when Chichiri felt rather odd for the woman to use Tasuki as a rebound after she broke off with her boyfriend in suspicion of cheating, but found out in the end that he was being all skulk and secretive because he was trying to surprise her with a wedding proposal. But the most memorable of all anonymous phone calls they got was when a young boy told the press that he owed Chichiri a great favour for stopping him from committing suicide when he found Chichiri who was separated from Tasuki in the middle of a shopping mall when he was on the way to go to the top floor to kill himself, and when he picked him up and looked after him, staying by his side at the lost and found counter until Tasuki came to get him, and the grateful happy look Tasuki gave him when he thanked the boy for taking care of his man-cat made him realized that life was still worth living for after all.

            There were many other anonymous calls coming in to speak very well of Tasuki and Chichiri, and soon the press became a hotline for all callers to testify for the duo. Regardless if those testimonials are real or not, they entertained them all, as long as they get as much testimonials as they can to make Tasuki and Chichiri popular and on the good side. After a few editing here and there, the press aired the interview on TV as a special bulletin and even made an exclusive documentary based on all the people interviewed and caught on camera (with their permission, of course), which sent the TV ratings off the roof. Slowly but steadily, people began to change their mindsets and came out of the closet, showing their support for Tasuki and Chichiri and devoted their lives to the cause of releasing and reunited the duo together.

            Through recommendation from Chiriko, Nuriko and Hotohori started a petition rally where they would open their doors of Rekka-Shin Apartment to those who support Tasuki and Chichiri to sign their names on their petition so that they can forward this to the judge to appeal for a retrial, along with the copy of the special interview tapes that the press had made. Many came forth to show their support by offering their signatures and sending out more petitions for others to sign in their own neighbourhood. After they have gathered more than enough, they were about to send them to Judge Taiitsu-kun personally to ask for the plea for retrial—well, technically more like ignoring the secretary and barging into her office unannounced—when they were stumped with a surprise bigger than anyone has ever imagined.

            There, sitting in front of the poor old judge was the Yakuza client who was previously Tasuki's last client before Tasuki was arrested and Chichiri taken away from him, and the lady Yakuza whom he was courting. Apparently, he had been away on a business trip for a while and had not heard about the news of Tasuki's arrest until he came back to Japan to call up on Tasuki to check on him. When Tasuki had not replied his calls and messages, he braved himself to call his intended to find out if Chichiri has already given birth and if Tasuki had continued his services, and that's when the news about Tasuki and Chichiri was made known to him by his intended. Though cold and unmoving, the lady Yakuza hitwoman had to admit that she had felt something was amiss when she did not see Chichiri crawling through her window or peeking out of the air-vent like he used to and she rather missed the way she had to contemplate methods on how to keep Chichiri and always stumped whenever Chichiri manages to bypass every barrier she made to keep him out of sight and all those icky mushy lovie-dovie gifts the Yakuza boss hired him to give to her.

            For once, the Yakuza boss and the Yakuza hitwoman actually made a truce, sat down together and discussed about the matter and how to go about getting Tasuki out of his mess. After discussing thoroughly, they decided that excising their power as the Yakuza would do just the trick to convince Judge Taiitsu-kun to at least give the case another shot. The Yakuza hitwoman's fearful aura and murderous reputation was already enough to make the poor old judge balk. Now, coupled with Nuriko's group of justice seekers and the ever influential Chiriko leading the group with the petition, plus the Tasu-Chiri supporters outside the law building shouting slogans and protest against Tasuki's arrest, it seemed that there is nowhere to get around this predicament.

            Guess it's true when they say the free government is not entirely by its citizens, but by the underground society.

            So, after much consideration, Judge Taiitsu-kun agreed for a retrial, and this time she was going for a different prosecutor after she learnt from Chiriko that he had been bribing Miboshi to lean towards his side. The retrial made it into the news in no time and soon you could see two sides of rallies—those supporting Tasuki and Chichiri's love and 'tree-huggers' who fight for animal rights—protesting against each other outside the law building shouting each other to get a life and standing their ground on whose side they were supporting.

            This is going to be a long week ahead.

A/N: Well? What would the outcome be? Who knows? You'll have to wait on while I work on the next chappie. If you don't remember any of those characters I've just mentioned, do refer back to the previous chapters, mainly the 3rd and 10th chapters for the tenants and ex-tenants of Rekka-Shin Apartment and Chapter 14 for the Yakuza duo. Reviews plz!


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: What will be the fate of Tasuki and Chichiri now? You gotta read to find out! Yeah!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

                                                                         PUSS, PUSS

            Everyone in the court talked amongst themselves in hushed tones, giving the other side of the seating audience a dirty look. It was obvious as to seating of theirs which side they were choosing to support. To make it even more obvious, some of them were carrying banners and wearing printed T-shirt reading 'Animals have rights', 'Free Tasuki/Chichiri', 'Bestiality Sucks!!' and 'True Love Conquers All: Hail Tasuki/Chichiri!', stating out proudly whose they're on.

            As the retrial was set to commence, everyone began to speak hotly about the prospects of Tasuki's case. TV forums and debates were made with experts discussing about the possibilities of a human and a man-cat living the normal life. Online forums and debaters crashed each other with their opinions on whether Tasuki and Chichiri should be together. Newspapers and magazines were swarming with topics, even went as far as digging through Tasuki's past and trying to relate how his childhood could've affected his sexual orientation, and about how Chichiri came to be from being in a controlled secure lab where only the selected few would be put out in the market into a common pet shop who makes a meager annual income (which, of course, blew the cover of the poor vet who caused Chichiri's half-blindness). Phone lines were off the hook and letters and emails were piled up to their noses as to giving their viewpoints whenever TV shows asked the audience to participate in the discussion or whenever the newspapers or radio stations asked the public to give their two-cents on this issue. Controlled rallies were all about the street as the animal rights supporters and the Tasuki/Chichiri supporters duel it out with their voices, slogans and banners, urging the public to hear their plea.

            Now everyone, including news-hungry reporters and paparazzi, stayed vigilantly in the courthouse listening in on the news hoping to get a result out of this. A sudden long hush ensued as they watched Tasuki come into the courtroom and be led by the bailiff to the seat with Tatemo. He had changed quite a deal since his imprisonment, even though it had only been about 4 months (from the day Nuriko and the gang visited Tasuki till today, it was about one month of interviews, rallies and petition-writing); 8 more to go before he's officially released. His hair has lost its vibrant fiery red and his skin was much paler. He looked a great deal lot thinner than the last time Nuriko and the gang saw him and it seemed as if the jumpsuit he was wearing was almost too big for him. His facial expression was that of a defeated man and couldn't care less as to whatever happens to him or anything around him. He looked as if they could just blow up and die for all he cared; he just wanted to left alone to his thoughts. Nuriko's heart ached to see her best friend that way.

            After all formalities spoken at the beginning of trials and the entry of Judge Taiitsu-kun, the trial commenced with bringing in the previous witnesses to the stand. Chiriko stated that he realized the full consequences of producing false statements in court back then and was willing to accept any punishment incurred on him, and fully stressed that Tasuki and Chichiri's arrest was entirely his doing out of jealousy and that Tasuki and Chichiri should be together. Tokaki and Subaru, after intricate research on their behalf, spoke that technically, in scientific and medical terms, Chichiri is 75 percent human and is supposed to be leaning towards the life of a human, not an animal who gets caged and fed and treated as a lower-life form. A person dominantly human—as stated by Tokaki—should be given just as much human rights as they would give a gay or lesbian couple, with only minor necessities of the animal kind. Subaru noted that though Chichiri's pregnancy was a risky one, but with close monitoring and controlled medication and observation, they could not see why Chichiri should not be able to carry the child to term.

            The people who were in gratitude to Tasuki and Chichiri's services, including those from Rekka-Shin Apartment, made it to the stand to give their testimony as to why Tasuki and Chichiri should be together. Tatemo played the interview footage and revealed all those that could not appear in court due to personal reasons about the good Tasuki and Chichiri had done. When Tasuki was called up to the stand to be given a chance to defend himself, this was what he said:

            "I know that I have done something terribly wrong in the eyes of the public, and I know no matter how time passes, or whether we are caught or not, we will live the life of prejudice and people would never learn to accept our love as it is. I am grateful for those who have approved of our love and done so much for us, even suffered the wrath of the rest of the world for us, and I thank them on behalf of Chiri-chan and myself. Chiri-chan and I have been through a lot. He had chosen me to be his master, a man who lived a simple life and could barely even feed himself and pay the rent, let alone support a pet. Out of everyone, even Chiriko-san who would've done a better job as a master than me, he decided to follow me despite my reluctance. He took me out of a life of monotony and showed me my full potential in a job that I can actually put my heart and soul into.

            "After Chiriko-san took away my Chiri-chan, I truly felt the meaning of being lonely and I had to admit, I have Chiriko-san to thank for awakening my true feelings for Chiri-chan. Without him, I am nothing. Without him, I wouldn't have known such great friends and so many wonderful people who had stepped into my life whether I knew it or not. Without him, I would've still been in that apartment living out my bachelor days carefree, find a lover and get married and live the average Japanese life of a salary-man. That is not what I want. That is not what I desire. Chiri-chan helped me realized that, and I am not ashamed or regretful to say that we have loved each other deeper than any human being could ever love another, and I was very, very happy while it lasted.

            "I wish I could say that I apologize for offending everyone in this room for doing what I did to Chiri-chan and I wish could say that I am sorry for all the things that I have done and what atrocity I have created towards the society's eye, but I can't. I have no desire to apologize for this sort of prejudice. I can only say sorry that you cannot understand our feelings and see through how we feel for each other and how it feels to be torn apart from the one you truly love, and that you fail to believe that true love transcends everything. I can only apologize for your narrow-mindedness and your insistence to break us up and kill my kittens.

            "I just have two questions to ask: Regardless if you love a human or not, what if the same time as I'm going through happen to you? What would you do at my place?"

            After Tasuki's defense statement, both Tatemo and the prosecutor did their best to rival out each other with their lawyer expertise, and the juries' faces seemed to be at wits' end as to who to side on, although some of them seemed to be already choosing which side they wish to be on. Before they knew it, after all testimonials given and witnesses questioned, it had been almost 2 weeks since the retrial first started.

            "This ends the retrial of Tasuki's case of sexual bestiality conduct," Judge Taiitsu-kun looked as if she heaved a sigh of relief that this case is almost over. "The juries will be given 48 hours to make their verdict. We will return to this court at 1.30pm sharp to read their verdict. The court is adjourned."

--:--

            Chichiri woke up feeling a little restless. There was something about him that felt rather wrong tonight. Well, actually he had been feeling a little under the weather for almost 2 days now, but this time, the uneasiness is hitting tenfolds. He looked up and saw that the clock opposite him was showing 1.25pm. Had he been sleeping that long?

            He paced round and round in his cage trying to figure out what was wrong with him. Was it the cramps? Was it nausea? Was it that he needed to go pee? Was it all three? Was it that Illust-chan, the only person he trusted, betrayed him by feeding him with poison and it has now come to effect?

            His questions were answered when he felt some sort of twang of pain in his round belly. It didn't really hurt very badly, more like an intense pressure, but deep down inside, his instincts told him the worse. The feeling of needing to bear down confirmed it even more.

            He was going into labour.

            No! he thought. He couldn't afford to go into labour! He can't go into labour! He knew he was due anytime soon, but this was the last place he wanted to have his beloved's kittens. Those workers would have his kittens terminated, and he would forever be separated from his Tasu-sama. No, he had to hold it in!

            Easier said than done.

            "Kuso…I know I left it somewhere here…"

            Chichiri's squinted eyes of pain shot open as he heard the familiar voice outside. Holding his pain, he peeked out to see Illust-chan looking worriedly everywhere. She must've lost her choker again. During his months in the shelter, he had noticed and studied a lot of interesting things on his caretaker while giving her the cold shoulder treatment. One thing was that she had just started working in the shelter the same time Chichiri was brought in, and the other thing was her choker that she religiously wore almost every single waking moment of her life. It was a beautiful dark red tied into a big butterfly-shaped bow and a cute little bell dangling just right under her throat. In one of her babblings, Chichiri remembered her telling him that it was a gift from her boyfriend who was currently working in Denmark, like a pre-wedding band before he returns to officially marry her. No matter how many times her colleagues told her that it was unprofessional to wear such accessories in an office, she would not budge. She refused to take it off and had threatened to leave work, only to be coaxed back because Chichiri would want no one but her to be treated. She was like a real life neko girl with that choker, minus the neko ears and tail, that is. She would take it off whenever she was involved in big scale operations and whatnot, but she would always put it back on afterwards, although she would occasionally forget and start looking for it frantically, just like what she was doing right now.

            "Ah! Gotcha!"

            He saw Illust-chan picking up her choker that was left somewhere near the medicine cabinet and gleefully tied it back around her neck, fixing it into that perfect big butterfly-shaped bow. He wanted to call out, but hesitated. What if Illust-chan was still untrustworthy as he suspected? What if what she said about helping him getting out of this hellish shelter house was a lie? What if she takes him straight away to the head vet and forces him to give birth before assisting the head vet to kill his kittens? What if…

            Chichiri bit back a yelp as he felt the pressure getting even stronger to the point where it actually felt very painful. He could feel a lump starting to grow between his legs and his thighs were sticky with the water that has broken and began to leak out of his vaginal opening Tokaki had mentioned when his pregnancy was first diagnosed. He gripped the railings of his cage to support himself while clutching his belly with the other, trying to breathe to slow down the pain. Each time he breathe, the water began to leak even more and was flowing out like a faucet left running, staining the floor of the cage he was leaning on.

            Illust-chan was totally oblivious of what's going on. She briefly looked around—not really looking, actually—to see if everything was in order before making her way out of the door. She's leaving! he thought. She's going to leave and he will have to give birth in a stinking, rickety cold cage! No, this is not what he want his kittens to be in! This is not where he wants his kittens to have its first breath of air in! Screw whatever 'what if-s' he had in his head! He needed help now!

            Illust-chan was now going to close the door and lock it.

            No time for pride.

            It's now or never.

            "I…Illus…sama…"

            Illust-chan stopped at her tracks, looking around warily, wondering where the voice came from.

            "I…llus…sama…" Chichiri struggled to call her louder, the pressure making him double over.

            "Da…Dare? Dare ka? Jodan ja nai yo! I know karate and I'm not afraid to use it."

            Chichiri couldn't hold on to the pain any longer. He crashed against the door of his cage and whimpered, clutching his round belly tightly. That caught Illust-chan's attention as she quickly made a mad dash towards his cage. She gasped when she saw Chichiri's condition.

            "Oh my God, kitty cat! You're in labour!"

            She quickly opened the cage and carried Chichiri out and placed him onto the surgery table. Looking around to see if there was anyone looking, she quickly fished out her cell phone and dialed a number, all the while holding onto Chichiri's hand tightly, using her gestures to give him moral support. In the midst of trying to hold the pain, Chichiri could catch bits and pieces of the conversation.

            "Hai…Hai…He's in labour now…Probably about fully dilated…Of all days, why must the hearing…Alright, I'll see what I can do…Daijobu, ji-san, I got it covered…Hai…"

            "What's going on here? Closing hours and you're still here?"

            Illust-chan and Chichiri's breath simultaneously hitched as they saw the head vet coming in, wiping his blood-stained hands, obviously just finished performing a surgery at the other room. Luckily Illust-chan had stashed her cell phone just in time before he was able to see or hear what she was doing. He didn't need to look twice to be able to recognize what Chichiri's predicament was.

            "My, my, it's time, isn't it?" the head vet said in a rather cold yet anticipated tone. "Guess this must be our lucky day, eh, newbie?"

            "Um, uh, you can't! You can't perform the delivery now!" Illust-chan suddenly blurted out without realizing what she just said.

            "And why not, pray tell, newbie?" the head vet looked at her suspiciously.

            "A…Anno…" Illust-chan stumbled to come up with an excuse, then lit up and said, "Ne, matte yo, shachou, you wouldn't want to do this without an audience, do you?"

            "An audience? What do you mean?" the head vet raised an eyebrow.

            "Sa, anno…You do know that it's not exactly a secret that no one in this facility likes this kitty cat, and they would love nothing but to see you perform the termination of its kittens. Besides, isn't it a life long dream of yours to do a big favour for animal kind?"

            Chichiri tensed at Illust-chan. What was she trying to do?

            "Hmm…" the head vet rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

            "Besides, I heard that if you bring in the press to witness this auspicious moment every animal rights activists have been waiting for, you actually earn a 10 percent commission."

            The head vet thought for a while before grinning and said, "Very well, newbie. For once you're doing something useful around here. Go and make the necessary arrangements, starting with the press."

            "Yada, yada, shachou. You do the honours. I'll stay here and watch the kitty cat, just in case he tries to run away."

            "How could he be running away with a pain in his gut?"

            "You don't know him as much as I do, shachou. You did, after all, assign him to me."

            "Hmm, good point. Then keep an eye on him. I'll go make the calls."

            Illust-chan held her breath and waited for the head vet to step out of the room completely before heaving a sigh of relief and quickly rummaged through the drawers. She took out a reasonably big blanket and wrapped it around Chichiri, covering him as much as possible, then cradled him in his arms, peeked out of the door to make sure the coast was clear before tip-toeing out of the room and heading out towards the back door as quietly as possible.

            "That was close, kitty cat," Illust-chan said as she quickly settled Chichiri into the back seat of her four-wheel drive and jumped onto the driver seat, starting the car while looking warily around to see that they were not busted yet.

            Chichiri whimpered in pain, the pressure increasing the size of the lump between his legs. He couldn't hold on much longer.

            "Don't worry, kitty cat. Hang in there. Illuscia Nester Himawari always keeps her promises."

--:--

            "Have you reached the verdict?"

            "We have, Your Honour."

            The moment of truth had finally arrived as everyone returned to the courtroom 2 days later to hear the juries make their final conviction as to Tasuki's upcoming fate. Those who were outside the court building protesting and out-rallying each other in their groups were silent for once so as not to miss any bit of the announcement made in the courtroom through the connecting cable from the cameraman stationed inside the court room to capture everything live, which was then broadcasted through a portable TV connected to big speakers for everyone to hear. Everyone was at the edge of their seats and on the tip of their toes, with Tasuki sitting beside Tatemo looking resigned, calm and collected, ready to face anything thrown at him. Tokaki and Subaru, the husband and wife vet couldn't come because they had to tend to their clinic, but the rest of Tasuki's friends, including all residents and ex-residents of Rekka-Shin Apartment and Nuriko and the gang, were there having their fingers and probably their toes crossed.

            "May the defendant please rise."

            Tasuki, with a little encouragement from Tatemo and Nuriko at the audience seat, stood up, his handcuffs clinked as he went.

            "What is your verdict?" Judge Taiitsu-kun turned to the juries.

            "For bestiality conduct, we find the defendant…"

            Everyone held their breaths.

            "Not guilty."

            Everyone gasped for a moment, not knowing how to react. Tasuki's eyes widened, for the first time showing a glimmer of hope.

            "For impregnating a house pet, we find the defendant…not guilty."

            This time everyone cheered and clapped (well, those who supported Tasuki, anyway) and Nuriko and the gang reached over to hug Tasuki like there was no tomorrow, while the animal activists either protested loudly against this verdict or just stomped out of the courtroom disappointed. Those outside the courtroom getting the broadcasted hearing also had almost the exact same reaction as those in the courtroom, with the Tasuki-Chichiri supporters cheering, clapping, whooping, jumping and hugging each other with joy and jeering at the animal activists group while the animal activists showed them the middle finger, protested loudly and booing at both the result read and at the Tasuki-Chichiri supporters. Tasuki was overwhelmed with relief and unspeakable emotions that he allowed himself to be manhandled while silent tears of joy trickled down his cheeks. He found it hard to believe that his nightmare was finally over and soon he would be reunited with his beloved. Only when the judge banged the platform with her hammer then the commotion died down a little.

            "Order, everyone, order in the court!" Judge Taiitsu-kun warned. "The defendant Tasuki has been found not guilty of all charges. His sentence will be terminated and Chichiri will be returned to his possession. Mr. Tasuki, you and your man-cat are free to go."

            Tasuki finally smiled in bliss as he returned the hug of everyone who gave him, and for the first time, gratefully and happily shook hands with Chiriko for doing such a great deed for him. Chiriko accepted his thanks and from the others with a genuine smile and a warm fuzzy feeling in his gut that he had not had in years.

            Just when they were celebrating their good fortune, Tatemo's cell phone rang. He answered and his face immediately changed from happy to shock as he heard the news from the other line. He hurriedly hung up and alerted everyone.

            "I got a call from Tokaki and Subaru. Chichiri is in labour. We have to go to their vet now."

A/N: Ooh! This is so exciting! The climax you've all been waiting for! You wanna know how the birth goes? You have to follow up with the next chappie! Reviews plz!


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: Wohoo! Here it comes! The cream of the crop! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

                                                                         PUSS, PUSS

            It felt almost like forever before Illust-chan's four wheel drive came to a halt. Illust-chan quickly removed the keys from the ignition and went to the back seat to carry Chichiri out of the car before making a mad dash out of the parking lot and towards a clinic just ahead.

            With whatever strength he had left from holding the pain, Chichiri looked up and saw that it was the familiar old clinic where Tokaki and Subaru worked. As Illust-chan shouted for assistance and told everyone to make way for here, Chichiri silently wondered what relationship Illust-chan shared with Tokaki and Subaru.

            "Illust-chan! Glad you got here!" Subaru exclaimed as she wheeled out the surgery table for Illust-chan to put Chichiri on.

            "I got here as fast as I could. I think I've broken more speed limits than I should," Illust-chan replied, wiping a sweat of her brow while struggling to breathe properly after looking like she just came from a marathon run.

            "Let me help you worry about that later," Tokaki said and laid a few blankets under Chichiri's butt, took off the man-cat's pants and placed another blanket over Chichiri's naked lower half. "Have you called the lawyer guy yet?"

            "Yes, anata," Subaru replied. "They said they're on their way now."

            "I saw a few people recognizing Chichiri-chan when I came in," Illust-chan said a little worriedly. "I think they might end up calling the press or the cops or something. Should I do something about that, ji-san?"

            "No, niece," Tokaki stopped her. "Chichiri-chan is receiving enough bad publicity as it is. You just go outside and wait for Tasuki to come. Direct him straight to this room. Don't bother about the others. You do know which one is Tasuki, right?"

            "Hai, ji-san!" Illust-chan saluted and made a dash out the clinic entrance, guarding the door diligently and looked out for the person she had heard and read and seen so much in the news both on the papers and the TV. A few patients craned their necks to see what Illust-chan was doing and who she was waiting for, but she couldn't bother. She couldn't care less whatever people thought. Her priority right now is to reunited Tasuki and Chichiri and that's what she set out to do.

            "Breathe nice and slow, Chichiri-chan," Subaru coached the man-cat as she helped him ride the contractions. "Thank goodness we had our dear little niece to infiltrate the AHS office and pose as a new worker there to monitor Chichiri-chan, anata. Without one of our own in there, I don't think we would've been able to save Chichiri-chan and the kittens in time."

            "Hai," Tokaki got himself cleaned and prepared for the big moment, "Demo, it's not that we didn't know that Tasuki was the father of the child in the first place. I mean, it's no secret the way he reacted when we told him that Chichiri-chan was pregnant that he was the one who knocked him up. His face was so readable. But then again, we are in the new age. Anything is possible. I pity those people who see him otherwise."

            "That's our old Tasuki, always the predictable one," Subaru smiled a little as she stroke Chichiri's head. She felt Chichiri up and said, "I can literally feel the head already. He'd better be here soon. Chichiri won't hold on much longer."

--:--

            "Hayaku yo, Mitsukake-san! Can't you drive any faster?!"

            Mitsukake was on the road in his van, weaving in and out of the streets amidst the blaring cars and changing traffic lights and whatnot. In his van was Tasuki, Nuriko and Hotohori, Miaka and Tamahome, Yui and Nakago, Tatemo the lawyer and a few of the Rekka-Shin Apartment residents including Albert Kay and the boy genius Chiriko with his body guard, while the rest of the Rekka-Shin Apartment residents drove their own cars, trying as hard as they could to follow Mitsukake's trail. Behind them trailed a long line of cars and vans from the press, who probably heard of Chichiri's coming labour and decided to get the scoop of the story, and a few police cars which are probably either escorting them or chasing after them for violating speed limits. Either way, the road to Tokaki and Subaru's clinic was a long and hectic one.

            "I'm trying to drive as fast as I can with the weight in this van!" Mitsukake exclaimed as he swerved, almost hitting a nearby truck.

            "Are you accusing us of being fat?!" Nuriko growled out loud before shrieking as a motorcycle flew past them, barely scraping the door.

            "Oh, shut it, woman, and let the man drive before you get us all killed!" Albert Kay shouted and alerted Mitsukake to avoid a pedestrian. The others were hot on their trail and it was a matter of time before they saw Tokaki and Subaru's vet in sight.

            "Look! There's a girl with a bell choker waving at us at the entrance!" Miaka noted, pointing at Illust-chan who was waving furiously at them in front of the clinic entrance to stop. Tasuki, regardless whether Mitsukake had hit the brakes or not, opened the sliding door of the van and jumped down the vehicle, jogging quickly towards Illust-chan's direction.

            "Tasuki-san?" Illust-chan asked, ignoring the orange prison jumpsuit he was wearing. It was evident that he had no time to change after the verdict has been made. He must've rushed out of the courtroom as soon as he heard the news of Chichiri and came here in a flash without even bothering whether anyone was going to think that he had just performed a jailbreak feat or something.

            "Hai! Dare ka? Chiri-chan, is he…?"

            "Come with me."

            Illust-chan took Tasuki by both hands and led him straight towards the room where Chichiri was, ignoring the surprised gasp of the people inside the clinic at upon seeing a tiny nurse leading a big grown convict. Illust-chan didn't bother to knock. She just barged in, dragged Tasuki along with her and pushed him towards Chichiri, not that Tokaki and Subaru minded anyway.

            "Ah, finally," Tokaki replied good-naturedly. "We thought we might end up starting off without you."

            "Chiri-chan, Chiri-chan, oh god, I'm so sorry," Tasuki peppered Chichiri with butterfly kisses as he reached out to hold his beloved's hand. "God, I miss you so much. I'm so sorry I'm late."

            "Tasu-sama…" Chichiri whimpered as he held onto his hand and wrapped his other arm around his neck, savouring the familiar smell of his beloved. With him finally here by his side, his pain seemed to be bearable at most.

            While Tasuki and Chichiri savoured the moment of having each other in their arms, Subaru and Illust-chan was busy shooing away people, friends and paparazzi and police alike. Tokaki only allowed one cameraman to enter the room as he believed that the public needed to know how the birth went and how successful a union between a human and a man-cat could be. The happy little cameraman practically bounced into the room, leaving his fellow colleagues and competition behind disappointed as the door was shut at their faces. Illust-chan soon joined the delivery team with the necessary delivery instruments, which included the warm water and towels to clean the kittens and the scissors to cut the cord.

            "I think it's time we get this show on the road, boys," Tokaki said as he put on his surgical gloves. He motioned Tasuki to get behind Chichiri and let him lean on his chest for support while Subaru helped Chichiri to sit up. Tokaki spread Chichiri's legs just wide enough before nodding to Chichiri, telling him to push.

            Chichiri took a deep breath and bore down, gripping tightly at both Tasuki's hands that held him for support. Tasuki whispered sweet nothings to his ears to give him encouragement and Subaru helped the birth a little by massaging and pressing lightly at Chichiri's pregnant belly. The cameraman took everything on tape, watching in wonder at the real-life birth of the kittens everyone was raving about. Tokaki counted slowly from 10 to 1 as Chichiri tried to push the first kitten out. It didn't really hurt to give birth, now that the pressure had decreased with his pushing, but the vaginal opening that stretched to accommodate the size of the kitten's head was more than uncomfortable to bear with. Tears involuntarily flow from his eyes as he continued to bear down with all his might, all the while Tokaki, Subaru and Tasuki gave him soft encouragement and Illust-chan waiting diligently for them to pass her the kitten.

            After about 15 minutes of pushing, Chichiri let out a small mewl of pain as the first kitten, with the tea plate-sized placenta still attached to it through the umbilical cord, slid out of him. There was no time to waste for cuddles and kisses of the kitten as Tokaki quickly passed the kitten to Subaru who in turn passed it to Illust-chan. Chichiri whined for Illust-chan to let him hold his kitten but Tokaki persuaded to keep going as the rest of the kittens in him won't wait. The cameraman hurriedly went towards Illust-chan's direction and focused his camera on Illust-chan as she helped the kitten to breathe.

            While Subaru tried to massage Chichiri's belly some more before he continued with his pushing, Tasuki stole a glance at Illust-chan doing her work. Illust-chan quickly wrapped the poor thing in a towel and rubbed its back furiously. It was no bigger than a normal real kitten he had seen surrounding Chichiri when they first met and it had a beautiful fiery mop of hair on top of its head. Its eyes were tightly shut like all newborn kittens do, and it was as fair as Chichiri. Its tiny ears and tail the colour of Chichiri's ears and tail stuck out from either side of the towel. Illust-chan used a sort of pump to clean its mouth and remove the excess blood and placenta clotted around the air passageway, all the while continuing to rub its back vigorously. By the time Tokaki signaled Chichiri to start pushing again, a series of sharp mewls echoed throughout the room as it took in its first breath of air.

            "It's a beautiful girl," Illust-chan smiled as she tied and cut the umbilical cord and proceeded to clean her up. Tasuki couldn't control his tears of joy as he and Chichiri stopped for a moment to watch Illust-chan cleaning the kitten up with the luke-warm water ready in a tub.

            "You can't stop now, Chichiri-chan," Tokaki reminded as he got ready to catch the next kitten. "You have three more to go."

--:--

            Everyone was waiting outside the room impatiently, worry written all across their faces. The reporters, cameramen and paparazzi were disappointed at first for not being able to get the exclusive footage, but it pales in comparison to that of the long wait to see the newborn man-kittens. Nuriko was the most restless of the group, pacing to and fro, muttering to herself like a lunatic. Eventually Hotohori groaned and pulled her down to sit on his lap.

            "Na…Nandayo, anata??" Nuriko exclaimed, shocked at the sudden gesture.

            "You've been pacing to and fro like that for almost half an hour. You're gonna wear a hole on the floor for that, and you're making us all dizzy."

            "But…But I can't just sit here and do nothing! I'll go crazy!"

            "Who's the one giving birth, me—if I could ever give birth—or Chichiri-chan?"

            "De…Demo…Demo…!"

            "Just be patient. Tasuki is in there with him. I'm sure everything will be fine. Chichiri-chan is in good hands."

            Chiriko glanced sideways at their antics and let out a silent sigh. If Hotohori hadn't said, he would probably do the same thing Nuriko did.

            _Please be alright, Chichiri-chan, _he whispered quietly in his heart.

--:--

            "Keep pushing, Chichiri-chan. You're doing very well."

            Chichiri gritted his teeth and pushed as hard as he could. He had gotten the other two kittens out—a boy and a girl—and is working on getting the last one out. His face looked rather pale with the loss of blood and Subaru had just took out blood from the blood bank readily prepared at the side should anything happen. Chichiri's large shirt that bore a picture of yellow smiley—totally contradicting to the situation they were in now—was totally drenched with cold sweat on top and blood at the bottom as he struggled hard to push. After almost 15 minutes of pushing, the kitten was still crowning and nowhere near out.

            "Tasu-sama…" Chichiri whined as he stopped pushing, trying to get a breather.

            "Is something wrong? The last one is not out at all," Tasuki asked, cuddling his beloved worriedly.

            "The birth may have put too much strain on his vaginal opening and unable to stretch anymore even though the first three had paved the way. We'll need to take necessary measures," Tokaki said as he gave a knowing look at his wife. Subaru nodded, turned to Illust-chan with a hand outstretched and Illust-chan, without needing to be told, passed her the surgical scissors.

            "Ta-Ta-Tasu-sama…?!" Chichiri widened his eyes in shock, looking at the scissors glinting under the light fearfully.

            "What are you going to do?" Tasuki asked warily.

            "This will make the kitten slide out easier and save the trouble of Chichiri-chan pushing out anymore blood than necessary," Tokaki explained as he cradled Chichiri's buttocks with one hand and took the scissors with the other. "Trust me. It's better this way."

            "Ko…Ko…wai…" Chichiri whimpered, learning the word of fear.

            "Would it hurt him terribly? Would it heal?" Tasuki asked.

            "It would, but just a little while," Subaru said. "After that, with proper care and adequate rest and dietary, it will heal up pretty quick."

            After a long silence, Tasuki finally agreed, saying, "Do it. He's too tired to push anyway."

            "Ta-Tasu-sama!" Chichiri whined and mewled in protest. Tasuki held him tight and put his hand into Chichiri's mouth while Subaru held his legs down.

            "I'm here, Chiri-chan. It's OK. You can bite me if it's too painful."

            The cameraman closed up the view on the process nervously as Tokaki inched the scissors on the vaginal opening, with Chichiri struggling and trying to kick everybody away from holding him captive. A snip was heard, making the cameraman cringe, and Chichiri let out a muffled scream of pain, biting down hard on Tasuki's hand until it drew blood. The poor man-cat could feel the blessed relief as the kitten's head began to ooze slowly out of its confines but he couldn't help crying over the excruciating pain. Fresh tears poured out despite Tokaki and Subaru's encouragement and when Tasuki proceeded to hush him and give him reassuring words, Chichiri growled and reached over to bite Tasuki's neck.

            "Itai, itai, itai!!" Tasuki shouted in pain, but stopped Illust-chan from pulling him away. He knew Chichiri was angry with him for allowing Tokaki to cut him and needed to vent out somehow. He was lucky that Chichiri's fangs missed his vital jugular or he would've bled to death.

            "I…tai…I…tai…" Chichiri mumbled, his oral grip on Tasuki's neck held. His salty tears stung the wound sustained from the bite but Tasuki didn't care about that anymore.

            "Gomene, Chiri-chan. Gomene," Tasuki rubbed Chichiri's back, allowing Chichiri to bite deeper. He would do anything to ease Chichiri's pain, even if he had to suffer a few.

            "Just one last push, Chichiri-chan. Let go of Tasuki-san and push," Tokaki coaxed.

            Chichiri did not let go of Tasuki, but he pushed nonetheless. With both hands gripping tightly onto Tasuki's arms that wrapped around him and his neck in his teeth's mercy, Chichiri bore down as hard as he could, and finally, after a felt-like-forever 5 minutes, the kitten slid out of his womb and let out piercing mewls after Illust-chan rubbed and cleared its air passageway.

            "Omedetou, Tasuki-san, Chichiri-chan," Illust-chan announced as she presented the proud parents their thoroughly cleaned kittens wrapped in a clean big towel. "You have 2 boys and 2 girls."

            "Girls?" Tasuki was surprised. By now, Chichiri had released his oral hold on Tasuki's neck and breathed heavily, trying to compose himself as Subaru quickly gave him the blood he needed. "I thought I was going to have like…well, like Chichiri, a hermaphrodite."

            "Not sure how does it work yet, but probably it's your human genetics combining with Chichiri-chan's double chromosome that determined the gender of the child," Tokaki explained. "At any rate, they survived and are born healthy, with ten fingers and ten toes. Does the gender really matter?"

            "Iya, I guess not," Tasuki said as he looked adoringly at the four kittens in his arms. All of them were born with his hair and Chichiri's fur for the ears and tail. Their eyes were sealed shut like a newborn kitten and Tasuki had to assume that it will be a while before they would reveal their eyes for him to see. He could tell as well that they are deaf like a newborn kitten by the non-reaction towards him saying 'Hi' to them, but flinch every time he touched them.

            Once Illust-chan was done cleaning Chichiri, removing whatever placenta was left in his womb and dressed him in a fresh new set of clothes, Tasuki came close to Chichiri and showed him their kittens. All of them mewled as soon as Tasuki put them in his arms, as if they recognized their 'mother' and Chichiri's tears of joy poured out as he licked them adoringly one by one.

            "Ka…wa…ii…" Chichiri said as he nuzzled the four kittens lovingly. He saw Tasuki being bandaged of his hand and neck by Subaru and gave him an apologetic look. Looks like he had not learnt the word of apology yet.

            "Daijobu desu, Chichiri-chan," Tasuki said as he kissed Chichiri deeply. "As long as you're alright."

            "We've got a car ready at the back door to take you to a nice quiet hotel suite to stay so that Chichiri-chan can rest up," Subaru said as she wrapped Chichiri with a blanket. "We took the liberty to take some of you and Chichiri-chan's belongings to the suite so that you can look after him."

            "But what about those waiting outside? They have the right to know how the birth went," Tasuki said worriedly.

            "I suppose it wouldn't kill them to see the footage instead of the real thing," the cameraman, who had been silently filming the whole thing, finally spoke. "You guys run along. I'll handle the mad mob outside."

            "Arigatogozamas," Tasuki said gratefully as he cradled Chichiri bridal-style and allowed Tokaki and Subaru to escort him out through the back door.

            Needless to say, as Tokaki drove the couple off to their destination, there was a great uproar in the waiting room of the clinic.

A/N: Wohoo! The birth was a success and Tasuki and Chichiri are finally together at last! Stay tuned for the conclusion! Reviews plz!


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: We have finally come to the conclusion of the story! Enjoy it while it lasts!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I want to own Chichiri! ;P

                                                                         PUSS, PUSS

            "Ohayo! Anybody home?"

            "Hai, come in! Door's not locked."

            Chiriko toed off his shoes and walked into the double-storey terrace house. Carrying a big shopping bag with one arm and tailed behind by his bodyguard who carried most of the shopping bulk, they dropped everything they had in the living room and made their way towards the living room.

            "Hai hai, Chiriko-jisan is here!"

            "Just in time," Tasuki replied. "We've just done feeding Maka and Maki. We need a little burping help here."

            Chiriko nodded and went towards Tasuki who is holding Maki. He passed her to him while he picked up Maka to be burped. Chichiri, in turn, took Kuro and Kura by the scruff of the neck and placed them near his exposed chest, letting the little kittens search their way to his nipples to suckle.

            After the birth and after Illust-chan, Tokaki and Subaru whisked Tasuki and Chichiri away secretly to their hotel suite, as expected, everyone was screaming bloody murder when they saw the cameraman popped his head in to tell them the news instead of the supposed Tasuki who, like any other proud father, would have brought the kittens to share with each other and possibly passing out cigars. No one wanted to see the footage he caught, except his fellow reporters and paparazzi who said they'd offer a king's ransom if that cameraman sold them his footage to be their headline news. The poor cameraman had to claw his way out of those over-ambitious and promotion-obsessed competition, not to mention Nuriko and the gang along with all the other Tasuki-Chichiri supporters, and had to beg for security's help to get him out of the clinic building and back to his news studio where he worked before they maul him to bits for information on Tasuki and Chichiri's whereabouts.

            When everyone has finally found out where Tasuki and Chichiri were 'hiding' (probably due to the fact that Chiriko, the boy with all connections, knew where to get his information), they swamped the place almost to the brim just to visit them and to get a glimpse of the beautiful man-kittens Chichiri often held possessively in his arms for reasons only a 'mother cat' instincts would know. Even though he knew that Nuriko and the gang are old friends, he couldn't help hissing and snapping at them with his sharp teeth whenever they attempted to reach over to hold the kittens, and despite Tasuki assuring him that none of them would ever harm their kittens, he refused to let them go, holding them close to his chest and never letting his guard down, not even to family friends. They'll have to assume that Chichiri was in a maternal phase and would ease up after the kittens get older. In the meantime, so many people, especially the Tasuki-Chichiri fans and supporters and the animal rights activist group, who came to that hotel for their own agenda in mind, until the poor owner of the hotel had to insist that those fans who wishes to see Tasuki and Chichiri to at least rent a room for a day. He also had to issue a restriction order over the animal rights activist group to stay away from his building after one of their rallies and protests outside the hotel turned almost haywire when one of the activists members, after catching a glimpse of Tasuki leaning at the window carrying one of the kittens to be burped, got so disgusted at the sight that he threw brick at the window, barely missing Tasuki by a few inches and prompt the rest of the group to do so, resulting a major damage compensation from the group and that restriction order from the government court itself.

            Naturally, they knew they couldn't stay in the hotel or go back to their neighbourhood and live normal lives again because they had to accept the fact that not everyone, no matter how open-minded they are, can accept the fact that Tasuki and Chichiri are together, even though Chichiri, along with the Yakuza boss and the Yakuza hitwoman, went to the government officials to purchase a sort of citizenship immunity for the couple's protection. They know those who dislike, loathe even, of Tasuki and Chichiri's relationship would do everything in their power to find some sort of a loophole to breech the immunity contract and do them harm, so they have no choice but figure out an alternative way to fix their situation.

            With their abundance of wealth, connections and sharp wit, the Yakuza boss and the Yakuza hitwoman (who, by the way, after the trial had finally hit it off together and decided to give their relationship a shot) joined forces with some of the biggest business conglomerates under their wing and Chiriko to look for a suitable location for Tasuki and Chichiri to stay. After a long search, they finally found an abandoned airport that had been left to rust ever since that airport has been boycotted and closed down for numerous security flaws. It was quite a drive away from town and most definitely a distance away from anyone who wishes to harm the couple, which was just right to build a small housing estate. Everyone got to work hiring the best contractors, architects, interior designers and the works to create the housing estate. After almost one year of bunking out at their old Rekka-Shin apartment, Tasuki and Chichiri were surprised with their gift of a new home in their new housing estate and was given the honour to name the housing estate anything he wishes. Tasuki, with Chichiri's approval, named the estate 'Ai no Yume' (Dream of Love).

            Now, after living there for almost half a year, the lonely housing estate began to bustle with life as more misunderstood people came over to move into the quiet quaint estate where no one could or would want to be bothered with them and let them live their own lives as long as they were not breaking any major laws. Most of them consisted of outcasts like ex-convicts or reformed drug addicts who couldn't find their place in normal society, gay and lesbian couples, incest couples—usually youngsters—and couples who consist of a parent and his/her adopted child. The only people not welcomed in this estate are pedophiles, especially those who love little children for the sake of sexual fun and not true love, and also groups where the latter is _way _beyond legal age. As much as they accept outcast into their community, those are the ones they could not tolerate and are usually reported to the authorities as soon as they were found.

            There, they began to slowly establish the estate into a small town of its own, where the members of the estate can start up their own businesses with proper funding by Chiriko, who had finally regained his wealth, home and property after the twins Suboshi and Amiboshi were arrested by the authorities after the child of the family they were hired to assassinate survived the attack and lived to identify and testify against them. Due to all the murders and corruption they have committed, they were given the death penalty, but before the day of the execution, the warden found Suboshi's cell door broken open and found him lying beside his beloved twin in his cell, their whole body pummeled into a bloody mess. Autopsies and investigations as well as eye-witnesses' accounts from the nearby inmates concluded that somehow they managed to smuggle their weapons into their prison without detection whatsoever, and instead of using them to escape, they've decided to end their lives together as the lovers they were rather than living a fugitive life. Using the mini flute hidden inside Amiboshi's mouth, he managed to project the music to make Suboshi's Ru Sei Suie come alive and break the cell door and crash through Amiboshi's cell and, holding each other's hands, Amiboshi played the music to make the Ru Sei Suie attack them and thus, beat them to death, leaving everything they had stolen from Chiriko back to its rightful owner.

            Nuriko and the gang led their own lives as all happy couples and families should, and would occasionally visit Tasuki and Chichiri and ogle over the kittens, which by now have gone acquainted with their presence after finally being able to be out of the confines of their overprotective 'mother' as soon as they could hear and see perfectly, but no one visited them more often than Chiriko himself. In fact, after quitting the multimillion gaming business and gave away most of his wealth to charity, officially moved down to Ai no Yume to become the estate mayor and run the estate alongside with Tasuki the co-founder of the estate, going around collecting house rent from every family in the estate and help run the estate businesses like any mayor should. Tasuki finally got his job license back, thanks to the Yakuza boss's influence, and he would continue getting house calls from eager customers who need a boost in their love lives, and Chichiri would go out to help them. At first, Tasuki wasn't really too keen in having Chiriko around, possibly because of past grudges and Chiriko's possible lingering obsession over Chichiri, but after a respectable agreement of truce, Chiriko had slowly become best friends with the couple, and soon officially became the kittens' godfather and was given the liberty to name one of the kittens, in which Chiriko named him Kuro because of the black patch at the tip of his tiny ears. They were the darling of everyone in the estate and whenever Tasuki and Chichiri had to work, almost everyone is willing to baby-sit them.

            "Thanks for helping us do the shopping, Chiriko," Tasuki said as he put Maka into the crib. "After the job just now, we're both beat."

            "No prob, Tasuki. How's business so far?" Chiriko asked.

            "Same old, same old," Tasuki grinned. "Some salary guy from a small shoe company wanted to try and woo the boss's daughter. I didn't think they suit very well—way out of his league, if you ask me—but Chichiri thinks otherwise, so I trust his instincts and took the job."

            "I guess Chichiri really is born to spot who's it and who's not."

            Chichiri smiled back happily at him, licking Kuro and Kura occasionally to clean off whatever dirt and grime they have.

            "I can't believe it's been one year and a half since all that hullabaloo had started," Tasuki commented as he and Chiriko went to the kitchen to put away the groceries. "The kittens have already started to spout words, and Tokaki and Subaru said that they will grow physically just as fast as Chichiri. It won't be long before they'll need to be schooled."

            "Need any help on that?"

            "Nah, we've got it covered. We've discussed last week in our committee meeting when you were away downtown to visit your parents that it would be a hassle to send their kids to school back and forth from town to the estate, so we've decided to build our own school. We're now collecting funds amongst ourselves, but you could provide us with the rest if it's not enough."

            "Consider it done, Tasuki. So what about the other kids? How are they gonna study in the meantime?"

            "A few of our estate residents here are teachers and professors in various schools, so they can take their time teaching them during the afternoon and as soon as the new school is done, they will quit their job and work full-time there."

            "Cool. You work well as a member of the estate. You should be Deputy Mayor for me."

            "Nah, I don't do politics and all that. I still prefer my current job."

            "Suit yourself," Chiriko shrugged. "Anyways, how's the others doing?"

            "Nuriko and Hotohori are having a ball with their son Himawari. They just invited us to his 5th birthday party," Tasuki replied as he went about preparing dinner for the night. "Tamahome and Miaka are getting along as couples usually do. I heard that Miaka has now started working part-time as a waitress in the restaurant to earn extra pocket money for her own expenditure. After all, she can't depend on her parents all the time, what with them paying her university fees. Yui and Nakago had planned to do their Honours degree together down in Switzerland, most probably after they finish their semester here by next June. No surprise there, since both of them are like the geniuses of Japan. The others are alright, getting married, preparing for engagements, the works. We most probably be invited to tons of their parties."

            "That's what you get when you are like their Stupid Cupid."

            "You got that right," Tasuki grinned, then realized something amiss. "By the way, where's Chiri-chan? Dinner's almost ready and he's been breastfeeding rather long."

            "I'll go check on him," Chiriko said as he went to the nursery room. "Chichiri-chan? Chichiri-chan?"

            He wasn't in the nursery room and Kuro and Kura had already done feeding and are put in their cribs to sleep. He wasn't in the master bedroom, and neither was he downstairs at any of the rooms. Finally, after searching for some moments, he found him down at one corner of the cellar where Tasuki kept every memorabilia of their matchmaking services including video tapes, notes, papers, pictures of their clients and gifts by their satisfied customers, all of which have been given back by the court after confiscating them along with revoking his job license.

            "Ne, Chichiri-chan? Dinner is ready," Chiriko said as he held out his hand. "Time to go up and eat."

            Chichiri shook his head, a sound of a crinkling paper bag could be heard.

            "What's that you got there?"

            Chichiri shook his head again, pretending not to hear anything.

            "Chichiri-chan…" Chiriko gave him a warning tone.

            Chichiri hesitated for a moment before showing what he had been hiding behind his back.

            It was a bag of sour mints.

            Chiriko looked knowingly for a moment before offering to give Chichiri a piggyback ride upstairs. By then, Tasuki had the dinner prepared on the table and was looking at the duo coming out of the cellar in relief.

            "Ah, there you are, Chiri-chan. Come on, dinner's ready. Everyone tuck in."

            "Chichiri-chan, you have something to say to Tasu-sama?"

            Chichiri blushed and looked away, hiding his face onto Chiriko's shoulder.

            "Nani? Nani, Chiri-chan? Daijobu deska?"

            "Come on, Chichiri-chan. You know the words. Tell him."

            Tasuki and Chiriko waited patiently as Chichiri got off Chiriko's back and gathered the strength to utter these two words that would add another flavour into their future life.

            "I'm…pregnant."

A/N: Wohoo! A perfect way to end this fanfic! Yayy! Finally finished after so many delays, trials and tribulations! Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing! TTFN! Reviews plz


End file.
